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Presented  by 
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in  memory  of 
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LECTURES 


ON     THE 


EVIDENCES  OF  CHRISTIANITY, 


DELIVERED    AT   THE 


UNIVERSITY   OF   VIRGINIA, 


DURING   THE   SESSION   OF   1850-1. 


NEW     YOKK: 
^^^      ROBERT    CARTER    &    BROTHERS, 
^^^  285     BROADWAY. 

1852. 


:-f'v/    •{;.■. 


Entered  according  to  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1851, 

BY  ROBERT  CARTER  &  BROTHERS, 

Jn  the  Clerk's  Office  for  the  Southern  District  of  New  York. 


STEREOTYPKD   BY   THOMAS   B.    eMITB, 
'216   WILLIAM    8TRBKT. 


CanteiitH. 


I. 

FAOB 

Man  Responsible  for  his  Belief.    By  Rev.  William  S.  Plumkr,  D.D. 
Baltimore,  Md 1 

II. 

The  Necessity  of  a  Revelation:   and  the  Condition  of  Man  with- 
out IT.     By  Rev.  A.  B.  Van  Zandt.     Petersburg,  Va.     .        .        .21 

III. 

y^    Miracles,  considered    as    an    Evidence   of   Christianity.     By  Rev. 

Henry  Ruffner,  D.D.,  LL.D.     Kanawha,  Va 59 

IV. 

Prophecy.     By  Rev.  Alexander  T.  M'Gill,  D.D.     Alleghany,  Pa.       .  109 


The  Authority  of  the  Sacred  Canon  and  the  Integrity  of  the 
Sacred  Text.    By  Rev.  F.  S.  Sampson,  D.D.    Hampden  Sidney,  Va.  141 

VI. 

The  Character  of  Jesus  Christ,  an  Argument  for  the  Divine  Origin 
OF  Christianity.     By  Rev.  James  W.  Alexander,  D.D.    New  York  193 

VII. 

Thf.  Success  of  Christianity  an  Evidence  of  its  Divine  ORiom; 
with  some  Observations  on  the  Celebrated  Secondary  Causes 
of  Mr.  Gibbon.    By  Rev.  Moses  D.  Hoge.    Richmond,  Va.       .        .  213 

VIII. 

Inspiration  of  the  Scriptures  :  Morell's  Theory  Discussed  and  Re- 
futed.   By  Rev.  T.  V.  Moore.    Richmond,  Va.        ....  267 


IV  CONTENTS. 

IX. 

PAOS 

The  Nature  of  Christianity,  as  shown  to  be  a  Perfect  and  Final 
System  of  Faith  and  Practice,  and  not  a  Form  in  Transitu  to 
A  Higher  and  more  Complete  Development  of  the  Religious 
Idea.     By  Rev.  .Tohn  Miller.     Philadelphia 303 

X. 

The  General  Internal  Evidence  of  Christianity.  By  Rev.  Robert 
J.  Breckenbridge,  D.D.,  LL.D.    Lexington,  Ky 321 

XL 

Popular  Objections  to  Christianity.  By  Rev.  B.  M.  Smith. 
Staunton,  Va 366 

XII. 

The  Ethnological  Objection:  the  Unity  of  the  Human  Race.  By 
Rev.  T.  V.  Moore.     Richmond,  Va 409 

XIII. 

The  Harmony  of  Revelation  and  Natural  Science  :  with  Special 
Reference  to  Geology.  By  Rev.  L.  W.  Green,  D.D.  Hampden 
Sidney,  Va. 467 

XIV. 

The  Difficulties  of  Infidelity.  By  Rev.  Stuart  Robinson.  Frank- 
fort, Kt 521 

XV. 

The  Moral  Effects  of  Christianity.  By  Rev.  N.  L.  Rice,  D.D. 
Cincinnati,  Ohio 669 


preface. 


To  prevent  misappveliension  and  enhance  the  interest  of  this  volume,  it 
may  be  proper  to  sketch  briefly  the  history  of  the  Univei-sity  bf  Virginia,  and 
to  give  some  account  of  the  origin  of  tlie  following  course  of  lectures  on  the 
Evidences  of  Christianity.  This  task  seems  naturally  to  devolve  on  the 
undersigned,  who  was  Chaplain  in  that  institution  at  the  time  of  the  dehvery 
of  these  lectures. 

It  is  a  familiar  fact  that  this  distinguished  State  Univei-sity  was  brouo-ht 
into  being  mainly  by  the  exertions  of  the  illustrious  Thomas  Jefferson — a 
man  of  versatile  genius  and  varied  literary  accomplishments,  if  not  of  sound 
logical  talent  and  profound  erudition ;  one  personally  conversant  with  the 
most  advanced  forms  of  civilization  in  his  day,  yet  thorouglily  devoted  to  all 
that  belonged  distinctively  to  the  structure  of  society  and  form  of  govern- 
ment in  America,  and  ever  desirous  to  contribute  all  in  his  power  to  the 
advancement  of  his  country.  He  was  fully  possessed  with  the  American  idea 
as  to  the  necessity  of  education  and  good  morals  among  the  people  at  large. 
And  after  his  withdrawal  from  the  national  service,  nothing  seems  to  have 
engaged  his  thoughts  and  active  exertions  so  much  as  the  intellectual  eleva- 
tion of  that  State  in  which  he  was  born,  and  in  which  was  his  fixed  residence 
through  his  whole  lifetime. 

As  early  as  the  year  1814,  in  a  private  letter  to  a  fi'iend  in  Albemarle 
County,  he  proposed  a  scheme  for  a  State  College,  and  in  1816  the  Legisla- 
ture took  the  initiatory  step  in  the  execution  of  his  scheme.  In  the  Session 
of  1817-18,  Mr.  Jefferson  drew  np  two  bills,  having  fr)r  their  object  the 
establishment  of  a  system  of  public  instruction  for  the  State,  namely,  1st,  A 
Bill  providing  for  elementary  schools,  and  2d  (introduced  a  hltle  later),  A 
Bill  making  provision  for  an  extensive  system  of  public  schools.  This  latter 
bill  embraced  the  provisions  of  the  former,  and  further  provided  for  a  num- 
ber of  Colleges  and  a  Central  University.  In  accordance  with  the  spirit  of 
these  bills,  an  act  was  passed  February  21st,  1818,  applying  from  the  reve- 
nue of  the  Literaiy  Fund,  forty-five  thousand  dollars  annually  to  pripaary 
schools,  and  fifteen  thousand  dollars  annually  fur  the  endowment  of  ant 
University.     A  Committee,  of  which  Mr.  Jefferson  was  Chairman,  appointed' 


vi  PREFACE. 

by  the  Legislature,  among  other  purposes,  for  naming  a  suitable  location  for 
the  proposed  University,  met  at  Rockfish  Gap,  on  the  Blue  Ridge  Mountain, 
and  decided  in  favor  of  the  site  of  the  Central  College,  an  embryo  institution 
gotten  up  by  private  subscription  of  the  friends  of  science,  Mr.  J.  at  their 
head,  and  located  near  Charlottesville,  Albemarle  County.  The  Legislature 
accepted  the  suggestion  of  the  Committee ;  so  that  the  Central  College, 
including  all  its  appurtenances,  was  absorbed  into  the  University.  The 
beautiful  eminence  selected  for  the  buildings  lay  about  five  miles  distant 
from  Monticello,  but  in  full  view. 

The  whole  plan  of  the  institution,  in  respect  of  buildings,  studies,  instruc- 
tion, and  government,  originated  in  the  prolific  mind  of  its  devoted  founder. 
With  great  discrimination  and  independence  of  mind,  he  culled  from  extant 
ideas  and  wrought  out  his  own  conclusions,  some  of  which  were  novel  and 
of  undecided  expediency,  but  are  now  gaining  ground,  as  wise,  practical 
principles.  From  the  time  of  the  passage  of  the  final  bill,  January  25th, 
1819,  until  the  day  of  his  death,  July  4th,  1826,  the  venerable  statesman 
seemed  to  possess  the  fire  and  activity  of  youth,  so  great  was  the  assiduity 
:and  energy  with  which  he  gave  his  personal  attention  to  all  the  details  of 
vhe  .designing  and  erection  of  extensive  and  elaborate  buildings,  and  to  all 
the  numberless  features,  great  and  small,  connected  with  the  establishment 
of  a  first-class  University.  He  was  spared  to  behold  his  long-cherished 
scheme  successfully  consummated.  On  the  25th  day  of  March,  1825,  it^ 
halls  were  thrown  open  for  the  reception  of  students.  Its  distinguished 
Father  continued  to  watch  over  it,  and  treated  its  students  with  paternal 
kindness  and  attention.  But  in  little  more  than  one  year  his  great  spirit  was 
summoned  from  the  scene  of  his  honorable  and  useful  labors. 

The  University  went  into  operation  with  eight  professors  and  one  hundred 
and  twenty-three  students-  The  average  number  of  students  up  to  this  date 
has  been  over  two  hundred.  For  several  years  past  there  has  been  a 
sound  and  constant  growth.  The  number  of  students  now  is  about  four 
hundred :  and  there  are  nine  professore,  one  lecturer,  one  adjunct  professor, 
and  three  tutore,  making  the  corps  of  instructoi's  to  number  fourteen  in  all. 

It  is  a  fact  of  general  interest,  that  the  subject  of  theology  is  omitted  in 
the  plan  of  studies,  and  no  provision  is  made  for  having  religious  worehip  in 
the  University.  This  omission  has  sometimes  been  ascribed  to  peculiarities 
in  Mr.  Jefferson's  religious  belief.  It  is  not  to  be  denied  that  amidst  the 
%iolent  agitations  in  the  public  mind  during  the  latter  part  of  the  last 
century,  throughout  the  civilized  world,  and  the  overthrow  of  many  long- 
venerated  opinions,  Mr.  Jeffei-son  became  as  skeptical  concerning  the  divine 
right  of  Christianity  as  he  did  concerning  the  divine  right  of  Monarchy. 
'But  he  studiously  concealed  his  sentiments  upon  this  subject  during  his 
whole  life.  "My  religion  is  known  to  God  and  myself  alone,"  he  wrote 
«ithin  a  few  years  of  his  deatL     Only  to  his  most  confidential  friends  did 


PREFACE.  VU 

•    •>■  ■•■  ^■■~".*  -,''''  '..  ' 
he  ever  communicate  any  part  of  his  religious  opinions.     Se  is  not  Ic'nowh 

to  have  ever  made  any  attempt  to  propagate  his  views,  or  in  any  direct  and 
open  manner  to  interfere  with  the  success  of  Christianity.  The  publication 
of  his  private  correspondence  has  indeed  disclosed  fully  his  errors  and  bitter- 
ness respecting  Christianity,  but  as  the  object  of  these  lines  is  to  present 
facts  and  views  not  generally  noticed,  I  shall  not  farther  allude  to  the  melan- 
choly revelations  of  those  posthumous  papers. 

The  absence  of  authorized  religious  instruction  in  the  University  is  not 
justly  attributable  to  Mr.  Jefferson's  single  influence,  nor  is  it  in  itself  a 
proof  of  hostility  to  our  religion.  Christianity  in  Virginia,  particularly 
among  the  more  cultivated  classes,  was  certainly  at  a  point  of  great  depres- 
sion in  those  days,  when  memories  of  corrupt  and  despised  Church  establish- 
ments were  still  vivid,  and  when  the  wave  of  French  infidelity  which  had 
rolled  across,  and  had  lashed  the  very  base  of  the  Blue  Ridge,  had  not  yet 
subsided  to  its  parent  depths.  But  in  the  opinion  of  many  of  those  best 
qualified  to  judge,  no  greater  favor  could  have  been  done  to  the  cause  of 
true  religion  than  to  save  it  from  the  dubious  fate  of  falling  again  into  the 
unconsecrated  hands  of  State  authorities.  Virginia,  ever  shuddering  with 
recollections  of  the  past,  and  ever  having  before  her  eyes  the  jealousies  of 
Christian  sects,  and  the  fierce  discords  in  sister  States,  has  uniformly  decided 
that  portentous  and  much-debated  question  as  to  the  proper  combination 
of  religious  and  secular  instruction,  particularly  in  State  schools,  by  leaving 
out  the  religious  element  entirely  from  her  government  institutions,  yet 
never  interfering  with  its  introduction  by  private  means,  which  do  not  inter- 
fere with  religious  equality. 

In  the  arrangement  of  the  University  system,  this  subject  was  not  left  to 
go  by  mere  default.  It  is  interesting  to  find  in  the  original  scheme  drawn 
up  by  Mr.  Jefferson,  and  submitted  to  the  Legislature  of  1818,  that  it  is 
proposed  to  leave  a  space  in  a  conspicuous  part  of  the  grounds,  which  might 
he  needed  at  some  future  time  for  a  large  building  to  be  used  among  other 
purposes  "/or  religious  worship,  under  such  impartial  regulations  as  the 
Visitors  shall  prescribe."  In  the  same  document  occurs  the  following  perti- 
nent paragraph : — 

"  In  conformity  with  the  principles  of  our  constitution,  which  places  all 
sects  of  religion  on  an  equal  footing,  with  the  jealousies  of  different  sects  in 
guarding  that  equality  from  encroachment  and  surprise,  and  with  the  senti- 
ments of  the  Legislature  in  favor  of  freedom  of  religion,  manifested  on  for- 
mer occasions,  we  have  proposed  no  professor  of  divinity ;  and  the  rather, 
as  the  proofs  of  the  being  of  God,  the  creator,  preserver,  and  supreme  ruler 
of  the  universe,  the  author  of  all  the  relations  of  morality,  and  of  the  laws 
and  obligations  these  infer,  will  be  within  the  province  of  the  professor  of 
ethics ;  to  which,  adding  the  developments  of  these  moral  obligations,  of 
those  in  which  all  sects  agree,  with  the  knowledge  of  the  languages,  He- 


^ 


vili  PREFACE. 

brew,  Greek  and  Latin,  a  basis  will  be  formed  c«.,mmon  to  all  sects.  Pro- 
ceeding thus  far  without  offence  to  the  constitution,  we  have  thought  it 
proper  at  this  point  to  have  every  sect  inovlde  as  they  think  fittest,  the  means 
of  further  instniction  in  their  ownpccnliar  tcnefsy 

Two  j-cars  before  the  Univei'sity  went  into  operation,  the  idea  contained 
in  the  concluding  clause  of  the  above  extract  was  clearly  and  fully  developed 
by  iyir.  Jefferson  in  a  Report  written  by  him,  and  sanctioned  by  the  other 
meifbers  of  the  Boai'd  of  Visitors,  to  the  President  and  Directore  of  the 
Literary  Fund.  So  true  and  excellent  are  the  general  views,  and  so  novel 
and  interesting  is  the  proposition,  contained  in  this  Keport,  that  it  is  worthy 
of  being  quoted  entire,  with  the  single  omission  of  the  paragraph  copied  above, 
which  is  made  to  form  the  opening  of  the  Report.  The  document  continues, 
"  It  was  not,  however,  to  be  understood  that  instruction  in  religious  opinions 
and  duties  w-as  meant  to  be  precluded  by  the  public  authorities,  as  indiffer- 
ent to  the  interests  of  society.  On  the  contrary,  the  relations  which  exist 
between  man  and  his  Maker,  and  the  duties  resulting  from  those  relations, 
are  the  most  interesting  and  important  to  every  human  being,  and  the  most 
incumbent  on  his  study  and  investigation.  The  want  of  instruction  in  the 
various  creeds  of  religious  futh  existing  among  our  citizens  presents  therefore 
a  chasm  in  a  general  institution  of  the  useful  sciences  :  but  it  Avas  thought 
thi^t  this  want,  and  the  entrustment  to  each  society  of  instruction  in  its  own 
doctrines,  were  evils  of  less  danger  than  a  permission  to  the  public  authori- 
ties to  dictate  modes  or  princijiles  of  religious  instruction,  or  than  opportuni- 
ties furnished  them  of  giving  countenance  or  ascendency  of  any  one  sect  over 
another.  A  remedy,  however,  has  been  suggested,  of  promising  aspect, 
whicb  wliile  it  excludes  the  public  authorities  from  the  domain  of  religious 
freedom,  Avould  give  to  the  sectarian  schools  of  divinity  the  full  benefit  of 
the  public  provisions  made  for  instruction  in  the  other  branches  of  science. 
These  branches  are  equally  necessary  to  the  Divine  as  to  the  other  profes- 
sional or  civil  characters,  to  enable  them  to  fulfil  the  duties  of  their  caUiug- 
with  understanding  and  usefulness.  It  has  therefore  been  in  contemplation, 
and  suggested  by  some  pious  individuals,  who  perceive  the  advantages  of 
associating  other  studies  with  those  of  religion,  to  establish  their  religious 
schools  on  the  confines  of  the  University,  so  as  to  give  to  their  schools  ready 
and  convenient  access  and  attendance  on  the  scientific  lectures  of  the  Uni- 
versity :  and  to  maintain,  by  that  means,  those  destined  for  the  religious 
professions  on  as  high  a  standing  of  science  and  of  personal  weight  and 
respectability,  as  may  be  obtained  by  others  from  the  benefits  of  the  Univer- 
sity. Such  establishments  would  offer  the  further  and  great  advantage  of 
enabling  the  students  of  the  University  to  attend  religious  exercises  with 
the  professor  of  their  2)a.rticular  sect,  either  in  the  rooms  of  the  building  still 
to  be  erected,  and  destined  to  that  purpose  under  impartial  regulations,  as 
proposed  in  the  same  Report  of  the  Commissioners,  or  in  the  lecturing  room 


PREFACE.  1» 

of  such,  professor.  To  such  propositions  the  visitors  are  disposed  to  lend  a 
willing  ear,' and  would  think  it  their  duty  to  give  every  encouragement,  by. 
assuring  those  who  might  choose  such  a  location  for  their  schools,  that  the 
regulations  of  the  University  should  be  so  modified  and  accommodated  as 
to  oive  every  facility  of  access  and  attendance  to  their  students,  with  such, 
regulated  use  also  as  may  be  permitted  to  the  other  students,  of  the  library 
which  may  hereafter  be  acquired,  either  by  public  or  private  munificence, 
but  always  understanding  that  these  schools  shall  be  independent  of  the 
University  and  of  each  other.  Such  an  arrangement  would  complete  the: 
circle  of  the  useful  sciences  embraced  by  this  institution,  and  would  fill  the 
chasm  now  existing,  on  principles  which  would  leave  inviolate  the  constitu- 
tional freedom  of  religion,  the  most  inalienable  and  sacred  of  all  human 
rights,  over  wliich  the  people  and  authorities  of  this  State,  individually  and 
pubUcly,  have  ever  manifested  the  most  watchful  jealousy:  and  could  this' 
jealousy  be  now  alarmed  in  the  opinion  of  the  Legislature  by  what  is  here 
suggested,  the  idea  will  be  relinquished  on  any  surmise  of  disapprobation, 
which  they  might  think  proper  to  express." 

The  general  sentiments  in  this  paper  with  regard  to  the  importance  of 
religious  mquiry,  not  only  are  just  and  expansive,  but  form  a  very  appro- 
priate introduction  to  a  volume  such  as  that  now  presented  to  the  public, 
and  fumbh  an  ample  vindication  of  tlie  propriety  of  having  such  a  course 
of  lectures  delivered  in  the  institution.  This  scheme  of  Mr.  Jefferson's,  al- 
Uiough  never  opposed  by  any  State  authority,  has  been  met  by  no  response 
from  the  *  sects,'  who  perhaps  were  unwilling  to  range  themselves  as  satellites 
around'this  great  orb  of  secular  science. 

'''■     Although  religion,  didactic  or  devotional,  has  never  had  an  acknowledged 
\  legal  existence  in  the  institution,  yet  since  the  third  year  after  the  University  ' 
<  went  into  operation  it  has  always  had  a  footing  and  a  welcome  among  the 
practical  observances.     By  the  year  1828,  arrangements  had  been  made  by 
the  faculty  in  their  private  capacity  for  regular  weekly  service  within  the 
walls  of  the  University  by  the  Episcopal  and  Presbyterian  clergymen  of 
,  Charlottesville,  alternately.     In  the  year  1830  a  Presbyterian  clergyman  of 
f  Philadelphia  accepted  the  invitation  of  the  faculty  to  act  as  Chaplain  to  the 
institution.     A  systematic  arrangement  for  securing  regular  religious  worship 
was  consummated  in  1831,  by  which  an  annual  appointment  of  a  Chaplain 
was  made  from  each  of  the  four  principal  denominations  in  the  State,  in  rota- 
tion.   In  1848  the  appointment  of  Chaplain  was  made  for  two  years  instead 
of  one,  the  same  system  of  rotation  being  continued.     Since  1831  the  com- 
pensation of  the  Chaplain  has  been  made  by  the  voluntary  contributions  of 
the  oflBccrs  and  students.      With  a  Chapel,  a  Chaplain,  two  ser^^ces  each 
Sabbath,  a  weekly  prayer-raeeting,  a  Sabbath-school,  daily  morning  prayers, 
together  with  entire  cordiality  and  accessibility  on  the  part  of  all  concerned, 
Christiamty  is  now  established  nt  the  University  of  Virginia  on  a  basis 


JC  ;  PREFACE. 

which  secures  to  it  as  much  purity  and  efficiency  as  could  be  .cq)ected  in 
guch  an  institution. 

The  lectures  embraced  in  this  volume  contain  nothing  sectarian.  They 
are  fully  within  the  domain  of  our  common  Christianity.  They  are  couched 
in  the  language  of  love,  and  aie  designed  not  to  insult,  but  kindly  to  reason 
with,  the  unbeliever.  In  reading  these  pages  let  every  one  bear  in  mind  the 
truth  so  forcibly  stated  by  Mr.  Jefferson,  that  "  the  relations  which  exist  be- 
tween man  and  his  Maker,  and  the  duties  resulting  from  those  relations,  are 
the  most  interesting  and  important  to  every  human  being,  and  the  most 
incumbent  on  his  study  and  investigation." 

Much  space  need  not  be  consumed  in  detailmg  the  origin  and  history  of 
this  Course  of  Lectures.  No  such  course  ever  had  been  delivered  in  the 
University,  and  its  delivery  was  designed  to  narrow  '  the  chasm'  of  which 
Mr.  Jeffereon  speaks.  The  only  point  which  seems  to  need  explanation  is 
the  fact  that  all  the  lecturers  were  chosen  from  one  denomination  of  Chris- 
tians. This  was  a  point  of  much  deliberation,  and  the  plan  adopted  was 
considered  the  most  likely  to  secure  in  the  end  the  best  and  widest  results. 
It  was  hoped  that  our  example  would  be  followed  by  the  other  denomina- 
tions, as  they  in  turn  had  possession  of  the  Chaplaincy.  And  thus  only 
could  all  be  allowed  an  equal  opportunity.  The  material  being  inexhausti- 
ble, let  each  denomination  draw  up  its  own  schedule,  select  its  own  cham- 
pions of  the  faith,  and  publish  its  own  volume  of  lectures,  and  thus,  and 
thus  alone,  might  we  hope  to  have  the  flower  of  American  Christian  intellect 
in  the  several  churches  engaged  in  a  united  assault  upon  the  ranks  of 
infidelity. 

It  is  enough  to  say  as  to  the  ability  of  these  lectures,  that  they  are  the 
best  efforts  of  their  distinguished  authors.  May  God  our  Saviour  use  them 
for  the  extension  of  his  kingdom,  and  to  his  name  be  the  praise, 

W.  BL  RUFFNER. 
Philadelphia,  December,  1851. 


Man  %nfnMi\ilt  fnr  {110  %tliti 


WILLIAM   S.   PLUMER,   D.D., 

BALTIMOaE,    MARYLAND. 


THOUGHTS  WORTH  REMEMBERINa. 

AuT  undique  religionem  tolle,  aut  usquequaque  con- 
serva. — Cicero. 

The  way  to  liell  is  easy,  for  men  can  find  it  witli  their 
eyes  shut. — Castruccio  Qastracanni. 

That  those  persons  should  tolerate  all  opinions,  who 
think  none  to  be  of  estimation,  is  a  matter  of  small  merit. 
Equal  neglect  is  not  impartial  kindness. — Bu7'he. 

Pride  of  opinion  and  arrogance  of  spirit  are  entirely 
opposed  to  the  humility  of  true  science. — Locke. 

The  fact  is,  men  are  not  always  in  a  mood  to  be  con- 
vinced.— Logan. 

Whosoever  shall  not  receive  the  kingdom  of  God  as  a 
little  child,  shall  in  no  wise  enter  therein. — Jesus  Christ. 

Upon  these  two  foundations,  the  law  of  nature  and  the 
law  of  revelation,  depend  all  human  laws. — JBlachstone. 

It  is  not  only  the  difficulty  and  labor  which  men  take 
in  finding  out  of  truth ;  nor  again,  that  when  it  is  found, 
it  imposeth  on  men's  thoughts,  that  doth  bring  lies  in  fa- 
vor, but  a  natural  though  corrupt  love  of  the  lie  itself. — 
Bacon. 

Men  are  ready  to  believe  everything  when  they  believe 
nothing.  They  have  diviners,  when  they  cease  to  have 
prophets,  witchcraft,  when  they  cease  to  have  religious 
ceremonies ;  they  open  the  caves  of  sorcery,  when  they 
shut  the  temples  of  the  Lord. — Cliateaulyriand. 

If  I  would  choose  what  would  be  most  delightful,  and 
I  believe  most  useful  to  me,  I  should  prefer  a  firm  re- 
ligious belief  to  every  other  blessing. — Sir  Humphrey 
Davy. 


My  Respected  Friends  : — 

If  the  course  of  lectures,  the  first  of  which  is  now  to  be 
dehvered,  shall  be  worthy  of  any  attention,  they  will  justly  claim 
your  greatest  candor,  your  most  ardent  love  of  truth,  and  your 
utmost  docility  of  temper.  It  will  be  unworthy  of  you  as  men, 
and  as  lovers  of  knowledge,  it  will  be  unphilosophical,  I  think 
too  it  will  be  wicked  for  you  to  attend  these  discussions  for  the 
purpose  of  blindly  receiving  or  rejecting  whatever  may  be  said.  I 
bespeak  your  utmost  ingenuousness  in  listening  to  the  arguments 
that  may  be  offered.  "  Buy  the  truth,  and  sell  it  not."  Your 
eternal  life  is  the  stake  involved  in  the  solemn  inquiry  to  be  made 
into  the  truth  of  Christianity ;  for  if  the  Scriptures  be  not  true, 
there  remain  to  us  only  darkness  and  lamentation. 

There  is  found  extensively  diffused  among  men  a  book,  called 
The  Bible.  Besides  other  lessons,  it  teaches  that  one  of  the 
highest  exercises  of  virtue  is  faith,  and  that  one  of  the  most  hei- 
nous sins  is  unbelief.  It  makes  salvation  to  depend  upon  the  for- 
mer, and  a  loss  of  the  Divine  favor  to  be  the  fruit  of  the  latter. 
It  often  and  clearly  settles  these  points.  It  says  :  "  Without 
faith,  it  is  impossible  to  please  God ;"  and,  "  He  that  believeth  not 
is  condemned  already." 

Nevertheless,  men  are  found  who  utterly  reject  this  book  as  a 
revelation,  some  without  inquiry,  but  not  without  scoffs,  and  some 
with  a  vain  show  of  reasoning,  but  evidently  without  thorough 
and  fair  examination.  Of  the  latter  class,  are  those  who  insist 
that  man  is  not,  because  he  ought  not  to  be,  accountable  for  his 
belief  in  any  matter,  that  faith  is  involuntary,  and  so  not  proper 
ground  of  praise  or  blame,  reward  or  punishment.  This  opinion 
has  some  prevalence,  and  is  worthy  of  examination  at  the  begin- 
ning of  a  course  of  lectures  on  the  evidences  of  Christianity.  If  it 
be  true,  the  whole  Christian  system  fails  of  the  authority  which  it 
claims.  Before  entering  on  the  main  question,  a  few  preliminary 
observations  are  proper. 


4  MAN  RESPONSIBLE   FOR  HIS  BELIEF. 

Truth  is  the  great  and  proper  object  of  the  mind  of  man,  and 
may  with  safety  be  pursued  to  any  length  whatever.  There  is 
no  danger  in  giving  up  any  error,  or  in  embracing  any  truth. 
Forsaking  truth,  and  embracing  error,  angels  shrunk  into  devils. 
Forsaking  error  and  grasping  truth,  sinners  rise  to  the  dignity  of 
saints,  and  to  the  companionship  of  angels. 

The  resemblance  between  truth  and  error  is  often  so  great  as  to 
call  for  the  most  patient  inquiry,  and  for  the  soundest  discrimina- 
tion. Prejudice  and  passion  are  enemies  to  truth,  and  will  defeat 
any  quest  after  knowledge.  All  truths  and  all  errors  are  not 
equally  evident.  Some  of  the  most  important  truths  bear  no 
marks  of  credibility  whatever,  when  first  presented  to  the  mind. 
And  some  of  the  most  serious  errors  often  for  a  while  seem  to  be 
truths.  Numerous  instances,  drawn  from  every  branch  of  knowl- 
edge, might  easily  be  given. 

All  truths  are  not  equally  important.  Some  we  may  never 
know,  and  yet  attain  all  the  highest  ends  of  existence.  But  some 
have  such  a  scope  and  bearing  that  it  behooves  all  men  to  seek  and 
find  them,  and  then  to  hold  them  fast.  Such  are  the  great  truths 
of  religion.  It  cannot  promise  the  slightest  utility  to  reason  with 
one  who  admits  that  there  is  a  God,  and  yet  cannot  be  brought  to 
see  that  our  relations  to  Him  are  momentous. 

Though  mere  intellectual  belief  is  not  saving  faith,  yet,  by  the 
laws  of  the  human  mind,  the  former  is  a  necessary  foundation  of 
the  latter.  When  a  man  so  believes  as  to  be  saved,  his  heart 
makes  no  war  upon  his  understanding,  his  faith  is  not  contrary  to 
his  judgment  and  reason.  It  is  a  glory  peculiar  to  Christianity 
that  it  requires  our  religion  to  be  a  "  reasonable  service."  "  Let 
every  man  be  fully  persuaded  in  his  own  mind"  is  one  of  its 
oracles.  No  man  acts  more  wisely  and  rationally  than  when  he 
solemnly  and  earnestly  believes  all  religious  truth. 

An  early  Christian  writer  says  :  "  He,  who  believes  the  Scrip- 
ture to  have  proceeded  from  Him  who  is  the  author  of  nature, 
may  well  expect  to  find  the  same  sort  of  difliculties  in  it  as  are 
found  in  the  constitution  of  nature."  And  as  the  author  of  nature 
is  confessedly  the  author  of  all  truth,  the  argument  from  analogy 
is  both  legitimate  and  important  on  religious  subjects.  It  does, 
indeed,  furnish  no  direct  evidence  of  any  rehgious  truth.  But  if 
difficulties,  presented  against  religion,  can  be  shown  to  lie  with 
equal  force  against  the  constitution  and  course  of  nature,  they  can 
no  longe/  be  urged  as-vahd  objections.     The  nature  of  the  subject 


MAN  EESPONSIBLE   FOR  HIS   BELIEF.  5 

now  to  be  discussed  renders  a  resort  to  analogy  entirely  proper. 
The  chief  use  of  analogy  in  argument  is  to  silence  cavillers. 

The  connection  between  cause  and  effect  in  the  moral  world  is 
as  close  as  in  the  physical.  Error  will  give  trouble  to  the  traveller 
to  a  distant  city.  May  it  not  be  fatal  to  the  traveller  to  eternity? 
The  former  feels  the  consequences  of  mistake  for  a  short  time,  the 
latter  for  endless  ages.  The  plague  produces  pains,  blotches,  and 
death.  Sin  is  more  dire  in  its  effects.  No  signals  of  distress  are 
so  appalling  as  those  held  out  by  men  living  or  dying  under  moral 
maladies. 

Let  us  now  examine  the  statement  that  man  is  not,  and  ought 
not  to  be,  accountable  for  his  faith.  At  this  point  it  is  proper  to 
make  a  few  remarks  on  the  grounds  of  belief  in  general.  Every 
man  finds  his  mind  so  constituted  that  it  cannot  but  believe  some 
things.  Consciousness  informs  him  that  he  exists,  thinks,  wills, 
loves,  and  hates.  On  these  and  like  points  he  needs  no  other 
ground  of  belief.  It  is  folly  to  seek  it.  This  is  adapted  to  the 
subject,  and  is  complete.  When  a  man  tells  me  that  I  have  the 
power  of  reflection,  he  gives  me  no  new  information,  and  no  more 
evidence  of  the  fact  than  I  had  before, 

"  Man  also  believes  some  things  by  an  intuitive  perception  of 
their  truth.  The  whole  is  greater  than  a  part,  two  are  more  than 
the  half  of  three,  a  proposition,  admitting  of  but  one  construction, 
cannot  be  both  true  and  false,  are  truths  so  obvious  to  every  sober 
mind,  that  to  announce  them  is  to  prove  them,  to  understand 
them  is  to  believe  them.  To  demand  argument  in  support  of 
them,  is  like  calling  for  candles  to  show  us  an  unclouded  sun. 
We  believe  such  things  because  we  cannot,  without  violence  to 
the  constitution  of  our  minds,  deny  or  doubt  them. 

Again,  mathematical  demonstrations  built  upon  the  axioms  of 
that  science  command  our  belief.  The  very  lowest  penalty  for 
expressing  a  doubt  of  a  proposition  thus  proven  is  the  contempt 
of  mankind.  In  long  mathematical  processes  errors  may  indeed 
occur^but  where  each  premise  and  each  step  are  clear,  our  assent  to 
results,  however  surprising,  is  most  reasonable.  Thus  accounts  are 
settled,  seas  navigated,  countries  partitioned,  and  nations  divided. 

Logical  reasonings  on  moral  subjects  may  be  as  fair  and  as  con- 
clusive as  mathematical  demonstrations.  Parents  should  provide 
for  their  helpless  children,  children  are  bound  to  the  offices  of 
filial  piety,  the  mother  who  cares  not  for  her  own  offspring  is  a 
monster,  he  who  loves  slander,  robbery,  or  murder,  is  an   enemy 


6  MAN  RESPONSIBLE  FOR  HIS  BELIEF. 

to  virtue,  are  moral  truths  as  fairly  reached  as  any  result  in 
geometry.  It  is  not  true  that  our  knowledge  in  morals  is,  in  its 
own  nature,  less  certain  than  in  other  branches  of  science. 

Our  senses  also  furnish  good  ground  of  belief.  When  a  man 
sees  a  rainbow,  he  believes  it  has  several  colors,  when  he  hears 
the  songs  of  the  mocking-bird,  he  believes  it  has  exquisite  musical 
powders,  when  he  tastes  honey,  he  believes  it  is  sweet,  when  he 
feels  ice,  he  believes  it  is  cold,  when  he  smells  the  incomparable 
flower  of  the  magnolia,  he  believes  it  has  strong  odors.  Nor  does 
he  need  any  other  proof  of  these  things.  No  process  of  ratioci- 
nation would  add  anything  to  his  reasonableness  in  believing 
what  his  senses  had  already  informed  him  of 

Consciousness,  intuition,  mathematical  and  logical  reasonings 
legitimately  conducted,  and  our  senses  are  all  to  be  relied  on  in 
their  proper  spheres.  He,  who  rejects  consciousness,  intuition, 
the  senses,  and  logical  reasonings,  can  make  no  progress  in 
knowledge,  and  will  simply  live  and  die  a  fool.  He,  who  refuses 
to  settle  an  account  fairly  and  arithmetically  made  out,  or  to 
abide  by  a  boundary  fairly  and  mathematically  ascertained,  will  be 
set  down  for  a  knave.  Yet  in  the  use  of  all  these  grounds  of 
belief,  mistake  or  deception  is  possible.  He,  who  slanders  a 
neighbor,  may  say  that  he  is  not  conscious  of  malignity  towards 
him.  In  this  case  we  simply  infer  that  he  does  not  candidly 
observe  or  truly  report  the  state  of  his  own  mind.  But  we  do  not 
on  that  account  give  up  all  evidence  of  that  kind.  Such  facts 
teach  us  to  be  watchful  and  truthful,  but  not  skeptical.  So  a  first 
truth  may  not  be  clearly  stated,  or  from  heedlessness  one  may 
mistake  its  import.  Would  it  on  that  account  be  wise  to  reject 
intuition,  and  begin  to  prove  that  the  whole  is  greater  than  a 
part?  In  the  use  of  the  senses,  and  in  mathematical  and  logical 
reasonings,  errors  have  been  committed.  Shall  we  therefore 
abandon  them  all  as  instruments  of  advancing  in  knowledge  ? 
All  sober  men  say,  No.  All  these  sources  of  evidence  must  be 
restrained  to  matters  falling  within  their  proper  and  respective 
provinces.  Consciousness,  intuition,  logical  reasonings,  and  the 
senses  cannot  determine  how  many  acres  of  land  are  in  a  given 
field,  or  how^  many  leagues  a  vessel  has  sailed  in  a  day.  Con- 
sciousness, intuition,  mathematical  and  logical  reasonings  cannot 
prove  a  stone  hard,  an  orange  sweet,  or  a  rose  fragrant.  One 
sense  cannot  testify  for  another,  neither  ought  one  of  these  classes 
of  evidence  to  invade  the  province  of  another.     Yet  it  is  philo- 


MAN  KESPONSIBLE   FOR  HIS  BELIEF.  7 

sophical,  reasonable,  right  and  wise  to  found  belief  on  the  evidence 
obtained  from  all  these  sources. 

We  have  another  source  of  information,  on  which  to  build  our 
belief     Indeed,  in  the  strict  sense  of  the  word  faith,  it  is  the  only 
foundation  of  belief.     I  refer  to  the  testimony  of  others.     The 
necessity  of  reliance  on  testimony  is  based  on  our  ignorance  of 
many  things,  which  can  be  known  to  us  in  no  other  way.     The 
faculties  of  men  are  so  limited,  and  time  and  space  are  so  vast,  as 
to  preclude  the  possibility  of  his  knowing  thousands  of  things, 
important   to   be    known,    except    by    the    testimony    of    others. 
Milhons  of  men  believe  that  the  sea  is  fathomless,  though  they 
never  cast  a  line  into  it ;  that  lions  and  elephants  are  found  in 
Africa,  though  they  never  were  in  sight  of  its  coast ;  that  a  vast 
tract  of  the  earth's  surface  is  never  whitened  by  frost,  though 
they  never  were  within  the  torrid  zone  ;    that  there  are  vast 
deposits  of  gold  in   the  mines  of  California,  though  they  never 
were  within  a  thousand  miles  of  any  part  of  that  Western  Empire 
State.     Their  belief  in  these  and  a  thousand  other  things  has  no 
basis  but  the  testimony  of  others.     If  a  man  concedes  the  reason- 
ableness of  so  believing,  he  grants  all  that  is  essential  for  the 
basis  of  this  argument ;  but  if  he  denies  it,  he  stultifies  himself 
and  all  mankind.     It  is  entirely  by  testimony  that  we  believe  in 
the  existence,  productions,  appearance,  or  institutions  of  countries, 
which  we  never  visited.     It  is  only  by  testimony  that  any  man's 
lineage  is  known  to  himself  or  his  neighbors.     In  the  same  way 
the  law  of  descents  is  executed,  property  is  held,  guilt  and  inno- 
cence proved,  life  and  liberty  legally  taken  or  preserved.     It  is 
almost  exclusively  by  testimony  that  the  mass  of  men  come  to 
regard  certain  drugs,  plants,  and  reptiles  as  poisonous.     Very  few 
men  in  each  age  of  the  world  subject  them  to  any  actual  test.     It 
is  solely  by  the  testimony  of  men  long  since  dead  that  w*e  have 
any  knowledge  of  the  universal  empires  of  antiquit}'^,  and  of  the 
men  who  reared,  or  who  destroyed  them.     Let  all  men  refuse 
assent  to  testimony,  and  all  business  must  cease,  all  commerce  be 
checked,  and  all  law  be  a  dead   letter.     Such  a  course  would 
make  earth  a  Bedlam,  would  convert  every  man  into  a  murderer 
or  a  suicide,  would  produce  starvation,  dissolve  society,  and  de- 
populate  the   earth.      Men    are    therefore    compelled    to   receive 
testimony,  rely  upon  it,  and  be  governed  by  it.     In  so  doing  they 
wisely  submit  to  the  laws  of  their  nature  and  of  their  condition. 
Who  will  maintain  that  the  Chinese  were  philosophical  in  disbe- 


8  MAN  EESPONSIBLE   FOE  HIS  BELIEF. 

lieving,  for  thousands  of  years  previous  to  the  present  century,  the 
existence  of  the  Northern  and  Southern  Oceans?  When  a  voyager 
in  certain  seas  and  seasons  is  told  by  the  sailors  that  if  he  sleep 
on  deck,  it  will  cost  him  his  life,  is  he  a  wise  or  a  good  man  for 
believing  not  a  word  they  tell  him?  To  test  the  truth  is  to  lose 
his  life.  To  invite  another  to  test  it,  is  to  tempt  him  to  self-de- 
struction. Here  is  a  case,  in  which  one  has  no  guide  but  the 
testimony  of  men,  and  those  strangers  perhaps.  The  penalty, 
fixed  by  the  Author  of  nature  to  such  recklessness  as  refuses  the 
warning  even  of  a  stranger,  is  death.  When  the  king  of  Siam 
was  told  by  the  German  ambassador  that  in  his  country  water 
in  winter  became  so  hardened  by  the  cold  that  men  could  walk 
upon  it,  was  he  wise  in  forthwith  determining  that  it  was  a 
falsehood?  Are  Virginians  unphilosophical  in  believing  on  the 
testimony  of  several  men  that  the  feat  of  climbing  the  Natural 
Bridge  lias  actually  been  accomplished  ? 

It  is  no  valid  objection  to  the  principle  of  reliance  on  testimony, 
that  it  may  be  abused.  Some  witnesses  are  ignorant,  some  credu- 
lous, some  dishonest.  That  is  a  good  reason  for  patience,  inquiry, 
candor,  and  discrimination,  but  none  at  all  for  blindly  rejecting  all 
testimony.  There  are  said  to  be  more  than  a  hundred  kinds  of 
mushroom.  Of  these,  but  one  is  fit  for  food.  Yet  men  easily 
learn  to  discriminate  between  the  noxious  and  the  wholesome. 
So  we  judge  of  all  testimony  that  is  submitted  to  us,  and  easily 
learn  to  discriminate  between  the  precious  and  the  vile,  the  false 
and  the  true.  We  wisely  and  universally  receive  testimony. 
The  old  and  the  young,  the  learned  and  the  unlearned,  the  sav- 
age, the  barbarian,  and  the  civiHzed  man  all  do  it.  If  they  acted 
otherwise,  they  would  be  madmen. 

The  whole  force  of  testimony,  considered  by  itself,  depends  upon 
the  ability  and  honesty  of  the  witness.  We  judge  of  the  former 
by  his  general  intelligence,  and  by  his  opportunities  of  information 
in  the  matter  of  which  he  speaks.  We  judge  of  the  latter  by  his 
general  character  for  veracity,  and  by  his  whole  conduct  in  testify- 
ing. When  the  ability  and  honesty  of  witnesses  are  unknown, 
an'  inquiry  on  the  subject  is  proper.  Upon  the  testimony  of  com- 
petent and  credible  witnesses,  we  take  property  from  one  man  and 
give  it  to  another,  and  for  offences  thus  proven,  we  punish  men 
with  loss  of  liberty,  and  even  of  hfe  itself.  Nor  do  good  men  live 
in  a  state  of  alarm  lest  they  should  be  ruined  by  this  state  of 
things.     On  the  contrary,  it  is  one  of  the  best  means  of  preserving 


MAN   RESPONSIBLE   FOR  HIS   BELIEF.  9 

all  the  dearest  civil  rights  of  men.  Without  it,  no  man  is  safe  for 
an  hour.  All  nations,  therefore,  have  received  testimony.  All 
men  have  done  it.  All  government  rests  mainly  upon  this  corner- 
stone. There  is  no  better  proof  of  high  civilization  in  a  nation, 
than  the  perfection  of  its  laws  on  this  subject.  It  is  the  judgment 
of  mankind  that  we  are  bound  to  admit  testimony,  and  that  we 
are  highly  culpable  for  refusing  it.     Take  a  few  cases. 

Serious  charges  are  circulated  against  one  of  my  neighbors.  If 
true,  they  ought  to  lead  to  a  suspension  of  all  intimacy  between 
us.  All  the  facts  are  elicited.  By  ample  testimony,  my  neighbor 
is  proven  guilty.  Yet  there  is  no  change  in  my  conduct  towards 
him.  Privately  and  pubhcly  he  is  still  my  boon  companion. 
What  is  the  consequence?  I  declare  my  belief  of  his  innocence, 
and  give  the  highest  proof  of  my  sincerity.  But  men  say  that  if 
I  were  not  reckless  of  character,  or  had  no  sympathy  with  wrong- 
doers, I  would  certainly  believe  otherwise.  If  I  still  cling  to  him, 
I  must  bear  a  tremendous  penalty,  the  forfeiture  of  the  esteem  of 
the  wise  and  good.  Or  suppose  the  charge  is  fully  disproven,  and 
the  innocence  of  my  neighbor  amply  vindicated,  and  yet  I  declare 
my  belief  of  his  guilt.  Is  there  no  penalty  for  my  rejection  of  testi- 
mony in  his  behalf?  Do  not  all  just  men  ascribe  to  malignity  my 
beUef  of  the  guilt  of  one,  whose  defence  has  been  triumphant? 
Do  I  not  suffer  severely,  yet  justly,  for  my  belief  in  this  case? 

Even  in  phj^sical  affairs  men  are.  by  the  fixed  laws  of  God,  held 
accountable  for  their  belief,  and  that  under  the  severest  penalties. 
Here  is  a  white  powder.  A  man  is  told  that  it  is  arsenic,  and 
that  a  small  quantity  of  it  will  destroy  animal  life.  He  has  never 
known  a  death  caused  by  this  poison.  The  powder  looks  as 
harmless  as  so  much  flour  or  clialk.  He  does  not  knoio  that  it 
is  arsenic.  He  does  not  believe  that  it  is  deadly  poison.  He 
refuses  to  receive  testimony  as  to  its  destructive  qualities.  He 
says,  it  is  impossible  that  anything,  so  harmless  in  appearance, 
should  hint  any  one.  He  gives  it  in  a  dose  to  some  one.  Death 
ensues.  He  is  arrested,  tried,  convicted,  and  justly  executed  as  a 
murderer.  Or  if  he  takes  the  dose  himself,  and  thus  gives  the 
highest  proof  of  the  sincerity  of  his  belief,  an  agonizing  death,  in- 
flicted by  God  himself,  as  the  Author  of  the  laws  of  nature,  soon 
follows.  The  penalty  is  certain,  speedy,  and  dreadful.  He  dies 
in  horror  and  in  torture,  for  refusing  testimony.  Why  is  this? 
Is  not  God  good?  Yes,  verily.  But  his  goodness  leads  him  to 
teach  men  that  for  their  belief  in  things  natural  they  are  respon- 


10  MAN   RESPONSIBLE   FOR   HIS   BELIEF. 

sible  to  him  under  natural  laws,  with  penalties  as  severe  as  any 
that  can  be  inflicted  on  this  side  of  the  grave. 

Not  one  man  in  a  thousand  has  ever  seen  human  life  destroyed 
by  a  fall  from  a  high  eminence,  yet  upon  the  testimony  of  others 
it  is  generally  believed  that  it  will  be  fatal.  Suppose  a  man 
refuses  to  listen  to  the  warning  voice  of  others,  and  leaps  from 
the  top  of  a  high  precipice  to  the  rocks  below.  His  unbelief  in 
the  testimony  he  has  heard  will  not  make  void  the  law  of  attrac- 
tion, by  which  he  is  drawn  with  fearful  violence  to  the  earth's 
surface,  and  dashed  to  pieces.  The  Author  of  nature  will  not 
suspend  the  laws  of  the  material  world,  but  will  terribly  punish 
those  who  violate  them,  even  if  the  violator  of  them  has  but  heard 
of,  but  never  proven  their  power  and  penalty.  Nay,  in  things 
natural  men  suffer  for  the  slightest  disregard  of  the  law  of  testi- 
mony. When  a  colony  goes  forth  to  a  new  country,  abounding  in 
plants  of  unknown  qualities,  it  is  under  the  general  declaration 
that  some  are  wholesome  and  some  noxious,  and  that  it  is  folly  to 
eat  of  anything  whose  nature  is  unknown.  When  the  first  set- 
tlers at  Jamestown  gathered,  and  boiled,  and  ate  the  leaves  of  the 
stromonium,  they  acted  rashly,  they  despised  the  general  law  of 
testimony  concerning  vegetable  plants,  and  they  felt  the  conse- 
quences. The  same  truth  might  be  taught  by  many  other  well- 
known  examples. 

Besides,  it  is  the  common  sentiment  of  mankind  that  a  man's 
belief  on  moral  subjects  is  a  sign  of  his  present  character,  and  a 
good  index  to  his  future  career.  "As  a  man  thinketh  in  his 
heart,  so  is  he,"  is  a  maxim  not  only  of  revelation,  but  of  all  judi- 
cious men.  Take  away  the  fear  of  punishment,  and  present  the 
occasion,  to  him  who  believes  that  swindhng  or  stealing  are  justi- 
fiable, and  no  man  of  sense  is  surprised  that  the  belief  rules  the 
life.  It  is  said  that  the  great  mass  of  convicts  in  our  prisons 
believe  themselves  to  have  been  justified  in  the  perpetration  of 
their  crimes.  So  long  as  they  thus  believe,  every  orderly  citizen 
knows  that  they  are  dangerous  to  society.  A  man  is  known  to 
believe  that  doctrine  of  devils,  that  the  end  justifies  the  means. 
Does  any  wise  man  confide  in  him  ?  Will  he  not  lie  whenever  it 
is  convenient  to  do  so  ?  As  it  is  his  creed,  so  shall  you  find  it  Ins 
trade  to  deal  in  falsehood.  No  merchant  will  employ  a  young 
man,  who  is  known  to  believe  that  he  may,  without  guilt,  procure 
his  pleasures  ai  the  cost  of  his  master,  and  without  his  consent. 
A  man's  creed  embodies  his  moral  principles.     To  publish  his 


MAN   RESPONSIBLE   FOR   HIS   BELIEF.  11 

creed  is  to  make  known  his  principles.  If  lie,  who  believes 
viciously,  acts  correctly,  it  is  owing  to  causes  foreign  from  his  real 
character  ;  it  is  despite  bis  principles,  and  there  is  no  proper  ground 
of  praise  in  what  be  does.  No  respectable  code  of  morals  admits 
of  cases  of  fortuitous  or  unintended  virtue. 

Moreover,  it  is  the  very  office  of  reason  to  search  for  truth,  to 
seek  for  light,  to  weigh  arguments,  and  to  determine  the  value  of 
evidence.  This  whole  work  is  voluntary.  In  performing  it, 
every  human  being  has  the  highest  kind  of  evidence  that  he  is  a 
free  agent.  That  evidence  is  his  own  consciousness.  No  man  of 
sense  will  deny  this.  Nothing  within  the  range  of  the  human 
mind  can  be  more  free  from  violence,  than  the  whole  process  of 
collecting,  receiving,  rejecting  or  weighing  evidence.  The  proof 
of  this  is  of  the  same  nature  with  the  proof  of  all  our  mental 
operations.  All  proper  attempts  to  influence  the  human  mind 
rest  upon  this  basis.  All  other  attempts  to  influence  it  are  felt 
to  be  outrages.  Persecution  made  Galileo  submit  to  a  humiliating 
confession.  Good  men  have  ever  since  felt  the  wickedness  of  the 
treatment  he  received.  But  his  belief  was  unchanged.  The  echo 
of  his  confession  that  the  earth  did  not  move  was  hardly  dead, 
till  he  was  heard  to  say,  "  It  does  move,"  and  if  he  had  not  said 
it,  we  know  that  such  is  the  unchained  and  untamable  freedom 
of  all  such  mental  operations,  that  after  his  confession,  he  must 
have  thought  just  as  he  did  before.  If  our  belief  is  in  any  sense 
so  involuntary,  or  so  independent  of  the  native  freedom  of  our 
minds,  that  we  may  not  be  held  accountable  for  it,  what  is  the 
use  of  evidence  ?  If  the  result  cannot  be  varied  by  the  evidence 
presented,  then  the  whole  process  of  eliciting  testimony  and 
listening  to  arguments  in  any  cause  or  matter  is  a  mockery  of 
reason,  truth  and  justice.  To  ansv/er  a  matter  before  he  hears 
it  is  not  folly  and  shame  to  a  man,  if  he  cannot  by  candor,  by 
patience,  by  inquiry,  learn  what  conclusion  he  should  reach. 
This  doctrine  carried  out  into  practice  would  make  all  judicial 
proceedings  very  short,  and  save  much  time.  Whether  it  would 
be  satisfactory  to  mankind,  I  will  not  inquire.  It  would  also 
open  the  shortest  road  to  science  and  learning.  It  would  save 
these  young  gentlemen  the  toil  and  labor  of  demonstrating  prob- 
lems and  theorems.  They  might  be  persuaded  to  believe  all 
things  that  are  told  them  without  looking  at  the  evidence  on 
which  they  rest.  Life  at  the  Unirersity  would  then  be  a  time  of 
elegant  leisure  tc   be  sure.     But  whether  such  a  course  would 


.  12  MAN  EESPONSIBLE   FOR  HIS  BELIEF. 

raise  up  a  set  of  me?},  or  advance  soZtcZ  learning,  5'ou  may  deter- 
mine without  argument.  Wliy  do  the  laws  provide  with  such 
care,  and  why  do  men  labor  with  such  zeal,  that  as  far  as  possible 
judges  shall  be  impartial,  if  the  state  of  the  mind  has  nothing  to 
do  in  determining  the  weight  of  testimony  ?  Why  should  a 
prisoner  wish  to  be  heard  if  evidence  and  argument  strongly  pre- 
sented will  not  influence  the  belief  of  a  just  and  good  man  on  the 
question  of  guilt  or  innocence  before  the  court?  Why  should  a 
man  ask  for  afair  trial,  if  there  be  not  states  of  mind  very  uiifair 
to  the  rights  of  truth  and  justice  ? 

A  court  is  in  session.  A  cause  involving  great  interests  is  to  be 
tried.  A  jury  appears.  One  of  the  first  acts  of  a  juror  is  to  bind 
his  soul  under  the  sanctions  of  an  oath  that  he  will  render  a  ver- 
dict according  to  the  law  and  the  evidence.  If  belief  be  involun- 
tary and  beyond  control,  this  oath  is  a  mockery.  But  this  is  not 
all.  The  trial  proceeds.  The  evidence  is  clear  and  carries  con- 
viction to  every  impartial  mind.  The  law  is  equally  clear.  The 
judge  so  states  it.  The  jury  retires,  and  brings  in  a  verdict 
contrary  to  the  law  and  the  facts.  What  is  the  result?  The 
pubhc  puts  a  mark  of  infamy  on  each  of  those  men.  Public  in- 
dignation is  like  coals  of  juniper  on  their  heads.  Their  reputa- 
tion is  blasted.  All  respect  and  esteem  for  them  cease.  This  is 
sure  to  be  the  case  in  proportion  as  the  community,  in  which  they 
live,  is  inteUigent  and  virtuous.  Now  why  do  all  good  men  visit 
such  conduct  with  so  severe  a  penalty?  Simply  because  the 
jurors  did  not  stand  to  their  oath.  Even  if  there  be  no  suspicion 
of  bribery,  even  if  there  be  no  suspicion  that  the  verdict  is  con- 
trary to  belief,  yet  the  penalty  is  inflicted,  not  by  a  baihff  or 
constable  indeed,  but  not  less  terribly,  because  the  public  inflicts 
it  and  that  without  ceremony.  Men  judge  that  none  but  bad 
men,  who  did  not  fear  an  oath,  could  entertain  a  belief  so  utterly 
at  variance  with  law  and  fact.  Here  is  another  jury  of  twelve 
men.  One  pays  no  attention  to  testimony,  argument,  or  the  law. 
His  mind  is  already  made  up.  Another  is  a  mere  trifler.  He 
neither  knows,  nor  cares  what  is  right  in  the  case.  Another 
listens  eagerly  to  the  testimony  on  one  side  only.  Another  at- 
tends partially  to  one  side  and  fully  to  the  other.  One  and  but 
one  carefully  and  candidly  hears  the  whole  case  and  decides 
accordingly.  This  is  the  only  innocent  man  in  the  panel.  Even 
if  the  rest  agree  with  him,  in  the  eyes  of  God  they  are  guilty ; 
and  so  far  as  their  conduct  is  known,  they  are  guilty  in  the  eyes 


MAX   RE3P0XSIBLE   FOR   HIS   BELIEF.  13 

of  all  good  men.  They  have  evinced  a  criminal  recklessness,  a 
base  want  of  love  of  trutli. 

Again,  if  belief  is  involuntary  in  any  sense,  which  sets  aside 
the  freedom  of  the  mind,  and  with  it  accountability,  there  is  a 
full  end  of  the  distinction  between  right  and  wrong,  virtue  and 
vice.  Thus  we  should  fairly  conclude  that  Saul  of  Tarsus, 
f' breathing  out  threatening  and  slaughter  against  the  disciples  of 
the  Lord,  and  making  havoc  of  the  Church,  and  haling  men  and 
women,  committing  them  to  prison,"  was  not  criminal,  and  ought 
never  to  have  felt  remorse  for  such  conduct,  for  all  the  time  he 
was  doing  these  things  he  "  verily  thought  he  ought  to  do  many 
things  contrary  to  the  name  of  Jesus  of  Nazareth."  Saul's  belief 
in  this  matter  was  firm  but  erroneous.  It  was  the  result  of 
prejudice  and  bigotry.  He  was  "exceeding  mad"  against  the 
Christians.  Yet  he  believed  he  was  doing  right.  But  as  soon 
as  he  became  a  candid,  truth-loving  man,  he  was  covered  with 
shame  and  filled  with  sorrow  for  this  conduct.  He  never  forgave 
himself  for  it,  but  went  to  heaven  crying :  "  I  am  the  chief  of 
sinners — I  persecuted  the  Church  of  God."  And  if  he  were  not 
guilty  for  his  bloody  persecutions,  neither  should  we  be  in  doing 
the  same  things,  provided  w^e  could  only  so  far  pervert  our  minds 
and  hearts  as  to  believe  that  we  were  doing  God  service. 

By  parity  of»reasoning,  when  in  the  midst  of  extreme  perils  and 
suffering  and  with  incredible  zeal,  Paul  preached  Christ,  there 
was  nothing  virtuous  in  all  this,  for  although  he  did  right  and 
acted  conscientiously,  yet  his  belief,  according  to  the  error  here 
opposed,  was  not  a  proper  ground  of  praise.  It  was  an  involun- 
tary result  reached  by  his  mind.  For  the  same  reason,  he  who 
believes  in  no  God,  and  worships  none,  he  who  believes  in  one 
God,  and  worships  him,  and  he  who  believes  in  thirty  thousand 
Gods,  and  worships  them,  are  alike  acceptable  or  unacceptable  to 
the  Creator.  Such  are  a  few  of  the  monstrous  consequences  of 
this  huge  error. 

It  has  been  shown  that  by  the  constitution  of  our  natures  we 
receive  the  testimony  of  men,  that  in  so  doing  we  act  wisely  and 
virtuously,  and  that  if  we  violate  this  law  of  our  existence,  con- 
science, mankind  and  divine  providence  enforce  severe  penalties 
for  the  transgression.  It  is  impossible  for  any  man  to  attain  the 
high  ends  of  being  or  even  to  maintain  that  being  on  earth,  un- 
less he  will  listen  to  the  testimony  of  others.  Let  us  go  a  step 
further.      The  same  law  of  our  constitution,  fairly  interpreted, 


14  MAN  RESPONSIBLE   FOR  HIS  BELIEF. 

a  fortiori,  obliges  us  to  receive  the  testimony  of  God.  "If  we  re- 
ceive the  witness  of  men,  the  witness  of  God  is  greater."  The 
Bible  claims  to  be  God's  testimony  to  man.  It  summons  men  to 
the  investigation  of  great  questions,  involving  at  once  the  salva- 
tion of  each  man's  soul,  the  general  good  of  the  human  race,  and 
the  glory  of  our  Maker.  It  declares  that  God  would  have  our 
inquiries  to  be  free,  fair,  thorough,  calm  and  earnest.  The  tenor 
of  Scripture  on  this  subject  is  well  expressed  in  such  sentences  as 
these  :  "  Come  now,  let  us  reason  together  ;"  "  I  speak  as  unto  wise 
men,  judge  ye  what  I  say ;"  "  Prove  all  things,  hold  fast  that 
which  is  good ;"  "  In  understanding  be  ye  men ;"  "  The  truth 
shall  make  you  free ;"  "  Be  ye  not  as  the  horse  and  the  mule, 
which  have  no  understanding  :  whose  mouth  must  be  held  in  with 
bit  and  bridle  ;"  "  If  thou  be  wise,  thou  shalt  be  wise  for  thyself;" 
"  If  any  man  will  do  his  will,  he  shall  know  of  the  doctrine, 
whether  it  be  of  God."  Larger  liberty  of  inquiry  no  man  of  sense 
could  wish  for.  The  sober  legitimate  use  of  all  our  mental  powers 
is  encouraged  in  every  proper  way.  It  is  true  that  the  Bible 
represses  and  forbids  all  those  tempers,  which  are  unfriendly  to 
growth  in  knowledge.  It  says :  "  Seest  thou  a  man  wise  in  his 
own  conceit?  There  is  more  hope  of  a  fool  than  of  him."  This 
remark  is  as  applicable  to  a  student  of  nature,  of  law,  or  of  medi- 
cine, as  to  the  student  of  the  Bible.  It  says  :  "  He  that  is  hasty  of 
spirit  exalteth  folly  ;"  but  the  truth  here  asserted  is  of  universal 
application.  Rashness  of  mind  is  no  more  contrary  to  religion 
than  to  sound  philosophy.  The  Bible  warns  us  against  "  philos- 
ophy falsely  so  called."  Regard  to  this  warning  gave  to  the  world 
the  discoveries  of  Copernicus.  Galileo,  Newton  and  Franklin.  If 
the  Bible  calls  for  profound  reverence  in  contemplating  religious 
truths,  it  is  because  those  things  are  divine  and  awful  in  their 
own  nature.  Levity  of  mind  on  sacred  subjects  is  in  bad  taste, 
and  proves  that  in  such  matters  a  man  wishes  to  be  a  fool.  He 
who  sits  on  the  bench  during  a  trial  for  life,  or  investigates  the 
question  of  the  truth  of  Christianity  in  the  same  lightness  of  mind, 
with  which  he  may  throw  pebbles  into  a  brook,  or  spend  an  hour 
with  the  friend  of  his  childhood,  is  a  bad  man,  and  every  one,  who 
is  not  bad,  will  say  so.  But  the  modesty,  the  caution,  the  candor, 
and  the  reverence,  called  for  in  such  an  inquiry,  do  not  impair  our 
freedom.  They  are  the  surest  pledges,  and  the  highest  guaranties 
of  its  perfection. 

It  has  been  shown  that  man  is  held  responsible  for  his  belief  in 


MAN   EESPONSIBLE   FOR   HIS   BELIEF.  15 

temporal  affairs  ;  why  should  he  be  irresponsible  where  everlasting 
things  ftre  at  stake?  If  in  any  case  I  am  bound  to  receive  the 
testiinony  of  an  intelligent,  honest  man,  ought  I  not,  in  every  case, 
to  receive  the  testimony  of  God  ?  If  erroneous  belief  in  the  affairs 
of  this  life  is  mischievous  and  often  fatal,  who  can  show  that  it 
will  not  be  equally  or  more  so  in  the  business  of  the  life  to  come? 
If  the  well-being  of  man  on  earth  requires  him  to  believe  the  fixed 
laws  of  God's  natural  government,  may  it  not  be  even  more  im- 
portant that  he  should  believe  the  fixed  laws  of  his  moral  govern- 
ment? A  man  heard  that  the  legislature  of  his  State  had  abol- 
ished capital  punishment.  He  committed  murder,  and  under  the 
gallows  said  he  would  not  have  shed  innocent  blood,  if  at  the  time 
he  had  believed  the  penalty  was  death.  His  erroneous  behef  on 
this  one  point  made  him  an  actual  murderer.  May  it  not  be  as 
mischievous  for  a  man  to  disbelieve  God,  when  he  says,  "  The  soul 
that  sinneth  it  shall  die?"  If  man,  who  is  always  fallible  and 
often  fallacious,  must  nevertheless  in  some  things  be  believed,  how 
much  more  must  we  believe  the  true  and  infallible  God  ?  If 
man's  word  is  ever  reliable,  God's  is  always  unimpeachable.  He 
commits  no  mistakes,  and  is  never  deceived.  '•  God  is  light,  and 
in  him  is  no  darkness  at  all ;"  "  His  understanding  is  infinite ;" 
"Known  unto  God  are  all  his  works  from  the  beginning  ;"  "  Nei- 
ther is  there  any  creature  that  is  not  manifest  in  his  sight ;  but  all 
things  are  naked  and  open  unto  the  eyes  of  him,  with  whom  we 
have  to  do;"  "He  understandeth  the  thoughts  afar  off;"  "He 
searcheth  the  heart  and  trieth  the  reins  ;"  He  is  omnipresent  and 
omniscient ;  he  knows  all  causes  and  all  effects  ;  he  is  in  full  pos- 
session of  all  the  propositions,  that  constitute  universal  truth ;  he 
knows  what  is,  and  was,  and  is  to  come,  as  well  as  what  might 
have  been,  might  now  be,  or  might  hereafter  be  on  any  conceiv- 
able supposition.  He  who  denies  these  things  must  be  sent  to 
school  to  learn  Natural  Theology.  Some  of  the  heathen  believed 
as  much  of  God.  Such  a  witness  as  God  is  infinitely  fit  and 
competent  to  testify.  If  he  speak  of  what  shall  be,  he  has  infinite 
power  and  wisdom  to  bring  it  to  pass.  Failure  is  out  of  the  ques- 
tion. "To  God  all  things  are  possible."  Nothing  is  too  hard  for 
him.  He  cannot  be  defeated.  His  veracity  cannot  fail.  False 
testimony  is  unspeakably  abhorrent  to  the  infinite  rectitude  of  his 
nature.  He  is  a  God  of  truth.  Even  "  if  we  believe  him  not,  yet 
he  abideth  faithful,  and  cannot  deny  himself."  Natural  religion 
teaches  that  he  is  infinitely  removed  from  insincerity  and  decep- 


16  MAN   EESPOiSrSIBLE   FOll   HIS  BELIEF. 

tion.  Despite  all  his  giossness  of  character,  Balaam  proclaimed 
that  "  God  is  not  a  man  that  he  should  lie."  This  truth  is  never 
to  be  yielded.  Sound  reason  unites  with  revelation  in  saying-, 
"Let  God  be  true  and  every  man  a  liar."  It  is  less  foolish  and 
less  criminal  to  suspect  the  truth  of  all  men,  than  to  question  the 
veracity  of  God.  "  It  is  impossible  for  God  to  lie."  If  then  we 
receive  the  testimony  of  men,  who  often  deceive  and  are  deceived, 
is  it  not  much  wiser  to  receive  the  testimony  of  God?  Could 
reasoning  be  fairer  ? 

Nor  is  there  any  reasonable  presumption  against  God's  making 
known  his  will  on  the  highest  themes  that  deserve  human  thought. 
He  instructs  mankind  by  his  works  of  creation  and  providence 
concerning  things  of  comparatively  slight  importance.  He  teaches 
the  husbandman  when  to  sow  and  when  to  reap,  he  instructs  the 
mariner  when  to  furl  and  when  to  unfurl  his  sails,  he  gives  men 
skill  in  all  the  useful  and  ornamental  arts,  he  gives  sagacity  to 
statesmen  and  by  them  stability  to  governments.  Those  who 
obey  the  lessons  he  gives  in  nature  and  providence,  are  so  far  wise, 
prosperous  and  happy.  Is  it  worthy  of  God  to  give  us  such  ample 
and  safe  lessons  concerning  the  body,  health,  riches,  and  the  wel- 
fare of  society,  and  say  nothing  of  the  soul,  of  the  riches  that 
endure  to  eternal  life,  and  of  that  boundless  existence,  which  all 
but  brutish  men  believe  to  be  before  them  ?  God  is  benevolent  and 
knows  more  than  man.  It  would  therefore  be  worthy  of  his 
boundless  goodness  to  teach  us.  He  is  our  Creator  and  Law- 
giver. It  is  therefore  to  be  expected  that  he  will  make  known  to 
us  his  will.  There  is  nothing  taught  us  by  Natural  Religion, 
which  makes  it  probable  that  God  cannot  or  will  not  reveal  to  us 
more  than  he  teaches  us  in  his  works.  In  other  words,  there  is 
no  a  jniori  argument  of  any  weight  against  God's  revealing  to  us 
his  whole  will  for  our  salvation.  Now  if  God  has  spoken  to  us 
in  the  Bible,  it  is  our  duty  to  honor  him  by  believing  what  he  says. 
"  He  that  hath  received  his  testimony  hath  set  to  his  seal  that  God 
is  true."  He  has  done  a  very  reasonable  and  proper  thing.  He 
has  confided  in  his  Maker's  word.  On  the  other  hand,  "he  that 
believeth  not  God  hath  made  him  a  liar."  No  inference  could  be 
more  logical.  He,  that  believes  not  man,  charges  him  with  speak- 
ing what  he  did  not  know  to  be  truth,  or  with  uttering  what  he 
knew  to  be  false.  Not  to  believe  God  is  to  do  what  in  us  lies  to 
destroy  confidence  in  his  moral  character,  and  to  bring  his  name 
into  contempt  among  his  creatures.     Every  virtuous  man  feels 


MAN  RESPONSIBLE   FOR  HIS  BELIEF.  17 

exquisite  pain,  when  his  veracity  is  questioned.  No  public  person, 
as  a  judge,  or  governor,  will  brook  the  insult  offered  by  giving  him 
the  lie,  if  he  has  power  to  redress  it.  God  is  the  Judge  of  all  the 
earth.  He  is  the  Governor  among  the  nations.  The  harmon}' 
and  happiness  of  the  Universe  depends  upon  the  esteem  in  which 
he  is  held.  To  make  him  a  liar  is  to  offer  him  the  highest  kind 
of  insult,  and  to  sow  the  seeds  of  mischievous  disaffection  among 
his  creatures.  Confidence  in  God's  veracity  gone,  all  is  gone.  It 
is  therefore  for  the  best  and  highest  reasons  known  to  mortals  that 
man  is  held  accountable  for  his  belief  in  the  testimony  of  God. 

If  God  has  in  the  Gospel  spoken  to  man,  and  man  receives  not 
His  testimony,  then  by  such  unbelief  he  impeaches  the  Divine 
wisdom  in  the  whole  plan  of  salvation.  To  reject  any  measure 
proposed  for  our  good,  is  to  declare  it  unnecessary,  or  unsuited  to 
the  end  proposed.  In  either  case,  it  is  an  impeachment  of  the 
wisdom  of  the  author  of  the  plan.  So,  also,  to  reject  God's  word 
is  to  deny  His  ability  to  make  good  what  He  has  promised  or 
threatened.  Unbelief  makes  the  great  First  Cause  inferior  to 
second  causes,  and  subjects  the  universal  Lawgiver  to  the  power 
of  feeble  creatures.  It  also  impeaches  the  Divine  kindness  in 
making  a  revelation.  If  the  Gospel  be  from  heaven,  its  overtures 
of  reconciliation  are  the  strongest  proofs  of  amazing  love.  But 
unbelief  pronounces  God  a  hard  master,  even  in  requiring  the 
acceptance  of  proffered  grace. 

If  the  Bible  be  God's  word,  every  candid  man  must  admit  that 
he  Divine  testimony  contained  in  it  is  full  and  clear  on  the  most 
important  subjects.  It  abundantly  teaches  that  man  is  by  nature 
*nd  practice  a  sinner,  that  he  is  alienated  from  the  life  of  God 
through  the  ignorance  that  is  in  him,  that  he  is  dead  in  trespasses 
and  sins,  that  he  is  in  love  with  sin  and  at  enmity  with  God,  that 
he  is  condemned  by  a  law  that  is  holy,  just,  and  good,  both  in  its 
precepts  and  in  its  penalty,  that  he  is  without  strength,  without 
righteousness,  without  hope,  and  without  God  in  the  work].  If 
these  things  be  so,  it  is  kindness  in  God  to  testify  them  to  us, 
especially  as  they  are  accompanied  by  offers  of  grace,  mercy,  and 
peace.  Illumination,  renewal  of  heart,  pardon  of  sin,  acceptance 
with  God,  strength  to  resist  temptation,  and  victory  over  sin  and 
death,  are  everywhere  proffered  in  Scripture.  Nor  is  the  method 
of  a  sinners  recovery  to  the  favor  and  enjoyment  of  God  concealed, 
or  obscurely  handled  in  the  Bible.  Jesus  Christ,  the  sole  and 
sufficient  cause  of  salvation  to  sinners,  is  clearly  revealed.     "  The 

2 


18  MAN  RESPONSIBLE   FOR  HIS   BELIEF. 

testimony  of  Jesus  is  the  spirit  of  prophecy."  "  To  him  give  all 
the  prophets  witness,  that  through  his  name  whosoever  beheveth 
in  him  shall  receive  remission  of  sins."  God  has  spoken  of  him 
"by  the  mouth  of  all  the  holy  prophets  since  the  world  began." 
"Yea,  all  the  prophets  from  Samuel,  and  all  that  follow  after,  as 
many  as  have  spoken,  have  foretold  these  days"  of  Messiah.  In 
the  New  Testament,  Christ  is  all  in  all,  the  Alpha  and  the  Omega, 
the  first  and  the  last.  The  Scriptures  say  that  he  was  "equal 
with  God,"  that  "  he  was  God,"  that  he  was  "  the  Son  of  God  with 
power,"  "  the  only  begotten  of  the  Father,"  "  the  Lord  from 
heaven."  They  call  him  Messiah,  Christ,  the  Anointed  of  God, 
Jesus,  or  Saviour,  the  one  Mediator  between  God  and  man,  the 
Surety  of  the  Covenant,  the  Redeemer,  the  Prophet,  Priest,  and 
King  of  his  people,  the  Lamb  of  God,  that  taketh  away  the  sin  of 
the  world,  the  Way,  the  Truth,  and  the  Life.  He  is  the  true  ark 
of  safety,  in  which  all  who  are  sheltered  shall  be  borne  to  the 
eternal  mountain  of  God,  when  the  deluge  of  Divine  wrath  shall 
drown  the  ungodly  world.  The  testimony  of  God  concerning  his 
Son,  as  the  author  of  eternal  redemption,  is  given  in  many  forms 
and  with  great  earnestness,  is  peculiarly  full  and  clear,  is  con- 
firmed by  the  solemnities  of  an  oath,  and  by  many  unmistaka- 
ble tokens.  The  Bible  claims  that  God  long  bore  "  witness  with 
signs  and  wonders,  and  with  divers  miracles  and  gifts  of  the  Holy 
Ghost,  according  to  his  own  will."  Before  the  eyes  of  successive 
generations  for  thousands  of  years  its  professed  predictions  have 
been  in  a  course  of  apparent  fulfilment.  Every  generation  also 
witnesses  very  remarkable  transformations  of  character  from  vice 
to  virtue,  from  evil  to  good,  which  are  ascribed  to  the  power  of 
God's  testimony  concerning  his  Son.  Under  the  energy  of  Bible 
truth,  order,  reason,  law,  civilization,  benevolence,  piety,  patience, 
humility,  public  spirit,  all  that  can  bless  society  and  honor  God, 
reascend  their  thrones,  and  sway  their  sceptres  over  men  If  these 
things  be  so,  I  appeal  to  you  whether  there  be  not  good  reason 
and  just  cause  for  God's  holding  that  man  guilty,  who  rejects  the 
Divine  testimony?  Is  not  man  justly  held  accountable -for  his 
belief? 

Some,  indeed,  object  to  the  threatenings  of  Scripture  against 
unbelievers,  and  say  that  they  do  not  like  to  be  frightened  out  of 
their  unbelief.  But  may  there  not  be  as  good  reasons  in  a  moral 
government  for  threatenings  as  for  promises,  for  announcing 
penalties  as  precepts?     The  penal  clause  of  every  statute  is  a 


MAN   RESPONSIBLE   FOR   HIS   BELIEF,  19 

threatening  to  wrong-doers.  Ought  the  people  of  this  common- 
wealth to  turn  felons,  because  the  State,  through  the  Legislature, 
has  threatened  to  punish  perjury,  burglary,  arson,  and  murder? 
Are  not  some  men  more  influenced  by  the  fear  of  evil  than  by  the 
hope  of  good?  In  times  of  great  temptation,  may  not  the  best  of 
men  find  their  virtue  in  some  measure  fortified  by  fear  of  the 
penal  consequences  of  evil  deeds?  The  threatenings  of  Scripture 
are  chiefly  to  be  regarded  as  kind  and  timely  declarations  of  the 
unimpassioned  but  inflexible  purpose  of  God  to  maintain  his 
rights  and  authority  at  all  hazards.  The  Bible  is  a  code  of  laws, 
and  God  is  a  moral  governor.  Laws  without  penalties  are  mere 
advice,  and  laws  without  known  penalties  are  among  men  always 
objected  to.  Besides,  if  we  understood  the  connection  between 
causes  and  effects  in  the  moral  world  as  well  as  in  the  natural, 
we  might  see  that  all  the  misery  of  which  the  wicked  are  fore- 
warned, is  the  necessary  and  invariable  fruit  of  sinful  conduct 
here.  As  refusing  food  cannot  but  produce  the  death  of  the  body, 
so  refusing  to  receive  Christ  Jesus,  the  true  bread  that  came  from 
heaven,  may  as  necessarily  produce  the  death  of  the  soul.  The 
threatenings  of  Scripture,  if  true,  are  as  really  benevolent  as  its 
promises.  Their  place  on  the  sacred  page  may  heighten  the 
gratitude  of  those  who,  by  making  peace  with  God,  have  escaped 
the  wrath  to  come.  They  are  also  useful  in  awakening  the  zeal 
and  compassion  of  those  who  preach  the  Gospel,  when  they  see 
men  ready  to  fall  into  the  hands  of  a  holy  and  just  God.  If  the 
consequences  of  a  wicked  life  were  not  clearly  stated  in  a  revela- 
tion, would  not  those  who  die  in  sin  forever  find  fault  with  a 
government,  that  had  observed  a  profound  silence  on  so  momen- 
tous a  matter?  Thus  the  objection  appears  to  have  no  force.  To 
urge  it,  is  but  to  cavil. 

A  modern  writer  assigns  as  a  reason  why  man  should  not  be 
regarded  as  accountable  for  his  belief,  that  the  opposite  doctrine 
leads  to  persecution.  If  man  were  responsible  to  his  fellow-man 
for  his  religions  belief,  then,  indeed,  those  monsters  of  iniquity 
who  have  gloated  over  the  agonies,  screams,  and  mangled  limbs 
of  their  victims,  might  plead  in  their  justification  the  doctrine 
maintained  in  this  lecture.  But  the  Scriptures  teach  that  God 
alone  is  Lord  of  the  conscience.  "Who  art  thou  that  judgest 
another  man's  servant  ?  To  his  own  master  he  standeth  or  fall- 
eth,"  i'  the  terrible  rebuke  of  Scripture  to  all  who  invade  the 
Divine  prerogative,  and  undertake  to  punish  men  in  matters  in 


20      *  MAN   EESPONSIBLE   FOR  HIS  BELIEF. 

which  Jehovah  has  said,  "  Vengeance  is  mine,  I  will  repay,  saith 
the  Lord."  The  pains  and  penalties  due  to  misbehef  or  disbelief 
of  God's  testimony,  and  to  all  other  offences  of  the  same  class,  can 
be  fitly  judged  of  and  condignly  inflicted  by  none  but  God  himself. 
A  more  daring  outrage  cannot  be  perpetrated  by  any  creature  than 
to  rush  into  the  judgment-seat  of  God,  and  deal  out  blows  of  ven- 
geance for  offences,  the  punishment  of  which  the  Almighty  has 
reserved  exclusively  to  himself.  In  civil  and  social  affairs  men 
may  make  us  feel  their  just  displeasure  for  our  wrong  belief, 
and  course  of  action  under  it ;  but  in  religious  affairs  an  attempt 
to  punish  us  by  the  laws  and  courts  of  man,  deserves  the  execra- 
tion of  men,  and  will,  I  doubt  not,  receive  the  reprobation  of  God. 
This  objection,  therefore,  vanishes  away. 

Such  is  an  outline  of  the  argument  designed  as  an  introduction 
to  this  series  of  Lectures.  Its  object  is  to  show  that  man  may 
reasonably  be  required  to  believe  sufficient  evidence.  What  evi- 
dence is  sufficient  to  oblige  us  to  believe  the  Bible  to  be  God's 
word,  I  shall  not  state.  For  purposes  of  illustration  and  argument, 
I  have  hinted  at  portions  of  it.  I  have  also  freely  quoted  the 
Scriptures,  where  it  seemed  important  to  educe  their  principles,  or 
where  they  teach  truths  assented  to  by  all  wise  and  good  men. 
But  I  have  purposely  avoided  arguing  any  of  the  several  kinds  of 
evidence  by  which  Christians  suppose  the  Bible  to  be  proven  to  be 
a  revelation  from  God.  In  due  time,  each  leading  point  will  be 
discussed  by  those  whom  you  will  be  pleased  to  hear. 


elmMJtiinf  a  Umlato: 


THE  CONDITION  OF  MAN  WITHOUT  IT. 


BY  KEY.  A.  B.  VAN  ZANDT, 

PETERSBtJKG,   VIRGINIA. 


1 


Archdeacon  Paley,  in  his  "View  of  the  Evidences  of  Chris- 
tianity," says,  "  I  deem  it  unnecessary  to  prove  that  mankind 
stood  in  need  of  a  revelation,  because  I  have  met  with  no  serious 
person,  who  thinks  that  even  under  the  Christian  revelation,  we 
have  too  much  light,  or  any  degree  of  assurance  which  is  super- 
fluous."* 

If  this  view  of  the  subject  is  correct,  it  should  only  be  our  aim, 
to  establish,  from  this  conceded  necessity,  the  probabilities,  or  the 
certainty  that  a  revelation  had  actually  been  given  to  mankind. 
But  if  no  "  serious  person"  will  assert,  that  man  possesses  more 
light  than  he  n^eds,  yet  it  is  notorious,  that  many  do  deny  the 
necessity  for  any  supernatural  divine  communication.  Even 
these,  it  is  true,  acknowledge  a  revelation  of  some  sort,  and 
dignify  by  that  name,  their  boasted  discoveries  of  truth,  from  the 
works  of  God  interpreted  by  the  human  reason.  This  miscalled 
revelation  they  hold  to  be  sufficient,  and  on  that  ground,  reject 
any  other  as  unnecessary,  and  therefore  improbable.  We,  on  the 
contrary,  by  demonstrating  the  insufficiency  of  their  uncertain 
and  erratic  guide,  prove  the  necessity  of  a  supernatural  divine 
communication,  and  thence,  legitimately  argue  its  probability,  if 
not  its  certainty.  The  discussion  of  the  former  part  of  this  argu- 
ment, might  not  fall  within  the  plan  of  the  distinguished  Author 
whom  we  have  quoted.  Its  omission,  however,  did  not  need  to 
be  justified  by  an  assumption  so  unwarranted. 

But  the  argument  which  Paley  pronounces  superfluous,  Chal- 
mers is  disposed  to  reject  as  invalid. 

"  There  are  some,"  he  says,  "  who  must  be  satisfied  that  a 
revelation  is  necessary  ere  they  will  proceed  to  inquire  whether  it 
is  true.  There  seems  to  be  no  logical  propriety  in  this.  It  pre- 
sumes a  greater  acquaintance  with  the  principles  and  policy  of 
the  Divine  administration  than  belongs  to  us."  *  *  *  "We  know 
vastly  to!)  little  of  that  mysterious  Being  who  suffered  so  many 
*  Paley's  Evidences,  p.  1. 


24  THE   NECESSITY   OF  A   EEVELAnON. 

ages  of  darkness  and  depravity  to  roll  on  ere  that  Christianity 
arose  upon  our  world,  and  still  leaves  the  great  majority  of 
our  race  unvisited  and  unblessed  by  her  illuminations — we  con- 
fess ourselves  too  unequal  to  the  explanation  of  such  phenomena 
as  these,  for  confidently  saying  that  because  man  needed  a 
revelation,  therefore,  as  a  matter  of  necessary  inference,  a  revela- 
tion was  in  all  likelihood,  if  not  in  all  certainty,  to  be  looked  for. 
For  ourselves,  we  do  not  feel  the  strength  of  this  argument,  and 
can  therefore  have  little  or  no  value  for  it."* 

The  argument  which  Dr.  Chalmers  thus  depreciates,  is  con- 
fessedly, one  of  inference,  and  it  may  be  granted,  that  we  know 
too  little  of  God  and  his  government  to  explain  every  phenome- 
non, in  his  dealings  with  men,  or  to  pronounce  with  confidence, 
what  he  would  do  in  certain  given  circumstances.  But  if  in  many 
things,  his  ways  are  unsearchable,  and  his  "judgments  a  great 
deep,"  must  we  thence  conclude,  that  nothing  can  be  argued 
a  priori  from  his  attributes — no  inferences  can  be  confidently 
drawn  from  what  He  is?  Are  our  notions  of  wisdom,  goodness 
and  justice,  so  inapplicable  to  Jehovah,  that  we  ^annot  certainly 
expect  the  adaptation  of  means  to  an  end  ;  a  benevolent  regard 
to  the  condition  and  wants  of  his  creatures,  and  all  necessary 
arrangements  whereby  transgressors  shall  be  made,  ultimatel)^,  to 
feel  and  acknowledge  the  equity  of  his  government  ?  It  is  not 
necessary  to  the  validity  of  arguments  thus  derived,  tliat  by  a 
similar  process  of  reasoning,  we  should  be  able  to  explain,  much 
less  to  anticipate  all  the  phenomena  of  the  Divine  administration. 
From  those  attributes  which  enter  into  our  very  idea  of  a  God, 
we  may  confidently  infer  certain  results,  and  yet  be  unable  to 
conclude  anything  as  to  the  time,  or  the  mode  of  their  accom- 
plishment. It  may  be  perfectly  logical,  to  infer  from  the  character 
of  God,  and  the  wants  of  mankind,  that  a  revelation  would  be 
granted,  and  yet  for  the  extent  of  that  revelation,  the  mode,  and 
the  means  of  its  universal  diffusion,  we  may  have  no  other  light 
than  that  which  is  derived  from  its  own  teachings.  Yea,  in  re- 
gard to  these  things,  and  such  as  these,  w^e  may  be  left  in  the 
dark  even  there,  and  yet  it  shall  militate  nothing  against  the 
just  conviction,  from  the  necessities  of  the  creature,  and  the  known 
attributes  of  the  Creator,  that  a  revelation  of  some  sort,  and  at 
some  time,  would  result.  We  hold,  that  from  what  may  be 
learned  of  God  by  the  light  of  nature,  together  with  the  demon- 
*  Chalmers'  Evidences,  book  iii.  ch.  1. 


THE   NECESSITY   OF   A   REVELATIOISr.  25 

strated  necessity  to  mankind  of  a  superior  revelation,  this  infer- 
ence is  fair,  is  logical,  and  unavoidable.  Dr.  Chalmers  objects  to 
this,  our  limited  knowledge  of  the  Divine  government,  and  in 
stances  some  mysterious  phenomena,  in  the  actual  bestowment  of 
this  revelation.  That  is  to  say,  because  we  cannot  precisely  de- 
termine, a  j)rio7'i,  when  and  how  a  revelation  would  be  given, 
therefore,  we  have  no  right  to  the  primary  inference,  that  it  would 
be  given  at  all.  We  may  not  conclude  in  favor  of  the  general 
truth,  because  the  same  information  will  not  warrant  us,  in  pred- 
icating subordinate,  particular  truths.  But  it  is  obvious,  that  the 
two  supposed  conclusions,  stand  upon  entirely  different  grounds. 
The  one  may  baffle  our  inquiries,  and  be  as  far  beyond  our  reach 
as  the  wisdom  of  God  is  superior  to  that  of  man,  whilst  the  other 
may  lie  entirely  within  the  scope  of  legitimate  speculation,  and  be 
fairly  deducible  from  the  known  attributes  of  Jehovah, 

I  may  justly  conclude,  from  the  character  of  a  parent,  that  he 
will  relieve  the  necessities  of  a  child,  and  yet  with  the  utmost 
knowledge  of  even  human  nature,  I  may  be  unable  to  decide  in 
advance,  how,  or  when,  his  parental  affection  will  be  manifested. 
He  may  have  reasons  of  which  I  am  ignorant,  that  would  vindi- 
cate both  his  wisdom  and  kindness,  in  withholding  for  a  time  the 
necessary  aid;  or  if  he  have  many  children,  he  ma}'',  in  hke  man- 
ner, vary  their  allotments,  and  yet  give  no  ground  to  question  his 
parental  affection,  to  any  one  who  should  be  admitted  into  his 
secret  councils.  Now,  it  is  not  ours  to  inquire  into  those  deep 
things  of  God,  which  govern  his  unequal  dispensations  to  man- 
kind. And  yet,  without  trenching  at  all  upon  this  forbidden 
ground,  assured  of  his  wasdom,  goodness,  and  justice,  we  may 
infer,  and  safely  infer,  that  Jehovah  would  not  leave  his  erring 
creatures,  w^iolly  and  forever,  without  some  surer  guide,  and 
higher  revelation,  than  that  which  they  by  searching  can  find  out. 

It  may  be  admitted,  that  this  argument  does  not  carry  with  it 
the  urgency  of  a  demonstration,  and,  to  some  minds,  it  has  not 
the  force  of  many  others,  in  the  extended  and  cumulative  evi- 
dences of  Christianity,  But  it  ought  not,  therefore,  to  be  need- 
lessly given  up,  for  it  amounts  at  least  to  a  presumption,  and  in 
some  of  its  aspects,  as  we  hope  to  show,  it  becomes  a  very  strong 
probability,  which  may  not  be  lightly  set  aside,  by  either  the 
advocates  or  the  rejecters  of  revelation.  It  may,  indeed,  be  but 
one  of  the  outworks,  which  surround  the  citadel  of  truth.  And 
regarded  with  the  eye  of  unbelief,  by  those  who  take  only  distant 


26  THE   NECESSITY   OF   A  REVELATION. 

and  cursory  views,  of  the  bulwarks  of  our  faith ;  or  on  the  other 
hand,  with  the  feehngs  of  security,  common  to  those  who  are 
strongly  fortified  within  :  the  true  position  and  importance  of  the 
argument  may  be  easily  overlooked.  But  in  a  day  like  this,  when 
the  skeptical  tendencies  of  our  nature  have  the  most  unbounded 
scope  and  license,  and  our  holy  religion  is  menaced,  by  every 
variet}^  of  stratagem  and  assault ;  it  becomes  us  to  stand  upon  the 
outposts,  and  yield  no  point  to  the  pretensions  or  the  arts  of  unbe- 
lief, until  it  has  been  fairly  proved  to  be  untenable. 

Now  the  argument  v»'hich  we  are  to  examine,  may  be  regarded 
as  a  reply  to  the  pretensions  of  unbelief,  claiming  the  sufficiency 
of  the  human  reason,  as  a  guide  to  truth  and  duty,  and  therefore 
rejecting  revelation  as  unnecessary.  In  this  point  of  view,  as  a 
weapon  of  defence,  the  argument,  if  it  can  be  made  out,  is  certainly 
unexceptionable  and  conclusive.  But  it  does  not  stop  here,  nor 
should  we  be  content  with  disproving  the  boastful  claim,  where- 
with reason  would  justify  her  neglect,  and  rejection  of  inspired 
truth.  If  the  insufficiency  of  her  teachings  can  be  shown,  that 
fact  more  than  meets  her  cavil  against  revelation,  and  becomes  at 
once  a  positive  and  valid  evidence  in  its  favor.  We  have  then 
"  the  necessity  of  a  revelation,^''  and  this,  coupled  with  what  rea- 
son teaches  us  of  Qod  and  his  government,  constitutes  one,  and 
not  the  least  among  the  probabilities,  that  a  revelation  has  been 
granted.  In  this  its  affirmative  aspect,  the  argument  is  two-fold, 
and  its  diffisrent  parts  mutually  strengthen  each  other.  -There  is 
first,  the  presumption,  from  the  known  attributes  of  God,  that  he 
would  grant  a  revelation,  to  meet  the  pressing  wants  of  mankind. 
This,  by  itself,  would  only  warrant  the  expectation  of  some  super- 
natural divine  communication,  and  decides  nothing  as  to  the 
authority  of  any  book  claiming  that  distinction.  But  it  falls  also 
within  the  scope  of  the  general  argument,  to  mark  the  adaptations 
of  Scripture,  to  meet  the  necessities  of  our  condition,  and  this, 
while  it  adds  probability  to  the  foregone  presumption,  carries  with 
it  also,  the  force  of  a  positive  conclusion,  that  the  Bible  is  indeed  a 
revelation  from  God. 

As  to  the  uses  of  this  argument  then,  there  can  be  no  dispute 
about  the  first  named.  If  the  light  of  human  reason  is  not  adequate 
to  meet  the  felt  necessities  of  our  nature,  there  is  an  end,  at  once, 
to  the  grand  assumption  upon  which  all  Deistical  writers  proceed. 

That  there  is  force  also  in  the  presumptive  evidence  derived 
from  this  fact  in  favor  of  a  revelation.     We  argue — 


THE   NECESSITY   OF   A   REVELATION.  27 

1.  From  the  strenuous  efforts  of  the  most  philosophical  skeptics, 
in  every  age,  to  disprove  it. 

Though  the  language  of  these  men  is  Uke  that  of  the  builders 
of  Babel,  a  confusion  of  tongues,  yet  their  object  is  the  same  :  the 
subversion  of  the  truth,  by  superseding  its  necessity,  and  erecting  a 
fabric  of  human  folly,  pride  and  power,  which  shall  reach  unto  the 
heavens.  Let  the  necessity  of  a  Divine  revelation  be  granted,  or 
proved,  and  the  entire  superstructure  of  these  self-styled  philoso- 
phers will  crumble  to  the  earth.  Its  foundation  is  laid  in  the 
assumption,  that  nature  contains  sufficient  notices  of  God,  and  his 
government,  and  sufficiently  discernible  to  the  human  intelligence, 
to  lead  us  on  to  virtue  and  happiness.  In  the  vaunted  fulness 
and  sufficiency  of  this  universal  code,  they  affect  to  find  2)?'iina 
facie  evidence,  that  any  other  must  be  the  invention  of  designing 
men,  and  dishonoring  to  the  Almighty.  Some,  therefore,  to  depre- 
ciate the  disclosures  of  revelation,  exalt  their  own  discoveries. 
Others,  compelled  to  concede  the  narrow  limits  of  human  knowl- 
edge, would  persuade  us  to  rest  satisfied  in  our  ignorance.  And 
others  still,  find  the  goal  of  all  intellectual  achievements  and  the 
end  of  all  inquiry,  in  the  murky  darkness  of  universal  doubt  and 
uncertainty.  These,  contending  that  darkness  is  better  than  light ; 
these,  that  the  glimmer  of  a  few  straggling  stars,  is  all  that  we 
ought  to  desire ;  and  those,  that  the  dim  twilight  of  reason  is 
brighter  than  the  noontide  splendors  of  the  Gospel. 

Now,  whence  this  effort  to  extinguish  the  felt  necessity  of  a 
revelation,  and  to  supersede  its  teachings,  but  from  the  conviction, 
that  this  necessity  acknowledged,  would  carry  with  it,  also,  a  pre- 
sumption and  probability,  of  a  revelation  actually  given  ?  The 
historical  argument,  indeed,  has  not  been  left  unassailed,  and  not 
a  few  have  been  the  efforts  to  impeach  the  Divine  authority  of  the 
Scriptures,  from  their  own  contents.  But  underlying  all  these 
attempts  has  been  the  assumption,  that  a  revelation  was  unneces- 
sary, and  therefore  not  to  be  looked  for.  If  the  contrary  can  be 
shown,  as  to  the  premises  of  this  proposition,  the  converse  to 
the  conclusion  must  also  follow,  our  enemies  themselves  being 
judges. 

2.  The  presumption  drawn  from  the  necessities  of  our  condition, 
acquires  additional  force,  from  the  actual  expectation,  based  upon 
these  necessities,  of  the  best  cultivated  minds  of  ancient  heathen- 
ism, that  a  revelation  would  be  given. 

The  mind  struggling  after  truth  unrevealed,  soon  finds  the  hmit 


28  THE  NECESSITY  OF  A  EEVELATION. 

of  its  attainment,  and  longs  foi-  superior  aid.  It  is  when  the  dis- 
coveries of  revelation  are  connected  with  unwelcome  truths,  and 
its  authority  enforces  ungrateful  precepts,  that  a  human  philoso- 
phy seeks  some  pretext  to  discard  it.  Then,  often  availing  her- 
self of  so  much  of  its  light  as  shall  serve  to  define  her  own  vague 
impressions,  she  vaunts  her  ability,  in  discovering  the  rudiments  of 
rehgion,  and  elaborating  these,  into  an  attenuated  system  of  mo- 
rality, she  arrogantly  propounds  it,  as  the  perfection  of  wisdom. 
It  was  not  among  those  who  were  left  only  to  its  guidance,  that 
the  sufficiency  of  the  human  reason  was  asserted.  It  was  not  till 
called  to  grapple  with  the  claims  of  the  Bible,  as  an  inspired  book, 
that  men  learned  to  deny  the  necessity  of  a  Bible.  So  far  as  there 
is  any  speculation  upon  the  subject,  man's  need  of  supernatural 
guidance  is  felt,  where  it  is  not  enjoyed,  and  the  religions  of  hea- 
thenism, universally,  contain  the  formal  confession  of  this  need. 
The  only  vitality  which  they  have,  and  which  for  so  long  has  ani- 
mated the  enormous  mass  of  their  monstrous  errors,  is  the  per- 
verted truth  of  God  in  communication  with  man.  It  is  because 
the  mind  yields  to  this  truth,  with  almost  instinctive  readiness, 
that  the  mystic  leaves  of  the  Sibyl,  and  the  vague  responses  of  the 
raving  Pythoness,  obtained  any  credit  in  the  world.  We  may 
Avonder  at  the  credulity  of  even  a  classic  age,  which  could  be  de- 
cided, upon  the  most  momentous  undertakings,  by  the  casual 
flight  of  a  bird  ;  the  relative  position  of  the  stars  ;  or  the  yet  more 
indeterminate  auguries  derived  from  the  entrails  of  a  beast.  But 
the  foundation  for  a  belief  so  absurd,  is  laid  deep  in  the  constitu- 
tion of  our  nature.  These  were  but  the  erratic  goings  forth  of  the 
mind,  after  a  supernatural  guidance,  from  the  impressed  convic- 
tion that  man  needed,  and  might  expect,  the  direction  of  Heaven. 
The  sagacity  of  civil  rulers  enabled  them  to  practise  upon  this 
impression,  and  invest  their  enactments  with  the  sanction  of  Divine 
authority.  Much  more  have  the  founders  of  false  religions  always 
claimed  for  their  teachings  a  direct  revelation,  and  found  the 
claim  easily  admitted.  If  a  few  gifted  minds,  in  an  age  bordering 
upon  "  the  fulness  of  the  times,"  were  able  to  discover,  and  to  dis- 
card this  empty  pretence,  it  was  not  without  a  confession  of  the 
actual  and  apparent  necessity  upon  which  it  was  based  ;  it  was 
not  without  the  expression  of  a  hope,  more  prophetic  than  the  ora- 
cles, that  that  necessity  would,  at  some  time,  be  met.  In  the  mon- 
uments of  the  brightest  minds  of  antiquity,  there  are  found  several 
passages^  containing,  at  once,  the  confession  of  their  ignorance, 


THE  NECESSITY   OF   A   REVELATION.  29 

and  the  felt  necessity  of  a  Divine  interposition.  "The  truth  is," 
says  Plato,  '■'•  to  determine  or  establish  anything  certain  about 
these  matters,  in  the  midst  of  so  many  doubts  and  disputations,  is 
the  work  of  God  only."  Again,  in  his  apology  for  Socrates,  he 
puts  these  words  into  the  mouth  of  the  sage,  "  You  may  pass  the 
remainder  of  your  days  in  sleep,  or  despair  of  finding  out  a  suffi- 
cient expedient  for  this  purpose  (the  reformation  of  manners) ;  if 
God,  in  his  providence,  do  not  send  you  some  other  instruction." 
But  the  most  remarkable  passage,  is  in  the  well-known  dialogue 
between  Socrates  and  Alcibiades,  on  the  duties  of  religious  wor- 
ship. Alcibiades  is  going  to  the  temple  to  pray,  Socrates  meets 
him,  and  dissuades  him,  because  of  his  inability  to  manage  the 
duty  aright.  "  To  me,"  he  says,  "  it  seems  best  to  be  quiet ;  it  is 
necessary  to  wait  till  you  learn  how  you  ought  to  behave  towards 
the  gods,  and  towards  men."  "  And  when,  O  Socrates  !  shall' that 
time  be,  and  who  will  instruct  me,"  says  the  wondering  disciple, 
"  for  gladly  would  I  see  this  man,  who  he  is  V  "  He  is  one,"  re- 
plies Socrates,  "  who  cares  for  you ;  but,  as  Homer  represents 
Minerva  taking  away  the  darkness  from  the  eyes  of  Diomedes, 
that  he  might  distinguish  a  god  from  a  man,  so  it  is  necessary  that 
he  should  first  take  away  the  darkness  from  your  mind,  and  then 
bring  near  those  things,  by  which  you  shall  know  good  and  evil." 
"  Let  him  take  away,"  rejoins  Alcibiades,  "  if  he  will,  the  darkness, 
or  any  other  thing,  for  I  am  prepared  to  decline  none  of  those 
things,  which  are  commanded  by  him,  whoever  this  man  is,  if  I 
shall  be  made  better."  Such  were  the  utterances  of  nature's 
longings,  for  that  revelation  which  has  since  been  given  to  the 
world. 

3.  In  favor  of  the  presumptive  argument,  for  which  we  contertd. 
we  remark  again,  that  the  expectation  thus  expressed,  is  justly 
founded  upon  the  known  attributes  of  God. 

Let  it  be  observed  here,  however,  that  the  idea  of  obligation  on 
the  part  of  God,  to  bestow  the  desired  boon  upon  mankind,  is 
utterly  excluded  by  the  origin  and  nature  of  that  necessity  under 
which  they  labor.  The  revelation,  of  whatever  kind  it  was,  given 
to  man  at  his  creation,  though  measured  by  his  wants,  was  not 
granted  as  his  right.  No  such  claim  can  be  basetl  upon  the  mere 
relation  of  creatures  to  their  Creator :  much  less  can  it  be  made 
out,  in  favor  of  those,  who  originally  endowed,  have  •'  became  vain 
in  their  imaginations,"  and  whose  "  foolish  hearts"  are  thereby 
"  darkened." 


30  THE  NECESSITY  OF  A  REVELATION. 

Neveitlieles?,  there  may  be  a  well-founded  expectation  of  a  de- 
sired good,  where  there  is  no  valid  claim  to  its  enjoyment.  Such 
an  expectation  will  be  more  general  or  defined,  according  to  the 
extent  of  our  knowledge.  If  derived  from  obscure  analogies  it  is 
indefinite  and  vague,  and  therefore  only  partially  fulfilled  by  the 
event,  yet  the  event  which  disappoints  it  in  part,  may  at  the  same 
lime  justify  the  reasoning  upon  which  it  was  built.  I  may  know 
enough  of  God  and  his  government  to  infer  the  probability  of  a 
revelation,  and  yet  the  very  analogies  from  which  I  reason,  will 
themselves  teach  me,  that  I  do  not  know  enough  to  anticipate  be- 
forehand, the  extent  or  mode  of  that  revelation.  If,  then,  passing 
beyond  the  only  conclusion  which  my  information  will  warrant,  I 
go  about  to  form  a  definite  conception  of  my  own,  as  to  the  how^ 
or  the  when,  of  this  supposed  revelation,  the  event  may  entirely 
disappoint  all  such  expectations,  and  yet  by  fulfilling,  justify,  the 
primary  inference. 

It  is  by  these  considerations,  that  we  vindicate  our  argument 
from  the  objection,  that  God  has  not  given  to  all  men  a  revelation, 
though  all  men  are  under  a  like  necessity.  If  a  revelation  is  to  be 
inferred  from  the  condition  of  men,  it  may  be  said,  that  a  universal 
revelation  ought  to  be  inferred,  since  all  men  are  in  this  respect  in 
the  same  condition.  But  as  all  have  not  been  blessed  with  the 
light  of  the  truth,  the  fact  is,  therefore,  in  opposition  to  the  infer- 
ence. Now,  if  the  argument  necessarily  implied,  that  man's  neces- 
sities constituted  a  claim  upon  his  Maker;  or  if  it  professed  to 
proceed  upon  so  clear  a  knowledge  of  Jehovah's  purpose,  as  to  de- 
termine beforehand,  the  extent  and  mode  of  any  Divine  commu- 
nication, this  objection  would  be  fatal.  But  as  man  has  no  claim 
of  right,  and  can  expect  the  desired  boon  only  as  the  bestowment 
of  grace,  he  cannot  know  beforehand,  that  God  will  make  no  dis- 
tinctions in  its  bestowment.  He  cannot  anticipate  the  degree,  or 
any  one  circumstance  in  the  manner  of  imparting  the  supposed 
revelation.  Such  detailed  and  definite  expectations  are  not  war- 
ranted by  his  information.  Their  being  disappointed  by  the  event, 
therefore,  can  in  no  way  impair  the  force  of  an  inference,  justly 
derived  from  ascertained  premises.  To  say  that  there  are  consid- 
erations which  warrant  the  expectation  of  a  Divine  revelation,  is 
one  thing:  but  to  say  furthermore,  that  such  a  revelation  if  given, 
will  be  universal,  is  a  very  different  assertion,  and  one  which  would 
require  a  very  different  set  of  analogies  to  prove  it. 

Assuming  then,  the  necessity  of  our  condition,  we  argue,  that 


THE   NECESSITY   OF  A   REVELATION.  31 

the  expectation  of  a  Divine  revelation  is  justly  founded  upon  whal 
may  be  known  of  God  and  his  government. 

In  the  exercise  of  those  attributes  which  are  deemed  essential  to 
every  reasonable  conception  of  God,  he  has  created  man  with  a 
physical,  intellectual,  and  moral  nature.     With  varied  dispensa- 
tions towards  races,  and  ages,  and  individuals,  we  yet  find  that  he 
has  made  ample  provision  for   man's  physical  and  intellectual 
wants.     The  earth,  though  bearing  the  marks  of  changes,  un- 
friendly to  its  products  and  its  clime,  and  in   some  of  ks  wide- 
spread regions  yielding  a  precarious,  and  in  some  a  scanty,  and 
in  all  a  seemingly  reluctant  support  to  her  teeming  populations,  is 
yet,  by  evident  design,  adapted  to  man's  physical   constitution. 
The  very  difficulties  of  its  climate  and  soil,  requiring  skill  and 
labor  to  overcome  them,  as  they  stimulate  to  exertion,  furnish 
also  "  verge   and  scope"  for  the  exercise  of  his  intelligence.     If 
gifted  with  faculties  seeking  a  wider  range  than  the  daily  supply 
of  his  necessary  wants,  he  is  surrounded  also  with  objects  appeal- 
ing to  his  curiosity  and  inviting  his  research :  he  is  in  the  midst 
of  a  world  of  wonders  which  ages  would  be  too  short  to  explore, 
and  himself  the  greatest  wonder  of  them  all.     If,  with  still  more 
adventurous  thought,  he  would  rise  from  the  actual  to  tlie  prob- 
able, and  from  a  real  to  an   imagined  existence,   his  discursive 
fancy  may  weave  into  unnumbered  combinations  the  elements  of 
being,  or  a  bold  speculation  may  busy  itself  in   conjectining  or 
discovering  the  reasons  of  things.     By  the  wise  arrangements  of 
the  Creator,  there  is  then  abundant  employ  and  a  rich  reward  to 
the  utmost  stretch  of  his  intellectual  powers.     But  man  has  no 
less  certainly  a  moral,  than  he  has  a  physical  and  intellectual 
nature.     There  is  that  within  him  which  recognizes  the  distinc- 
tion of  right  and  wrong,  and  gives  no  unequivocal  notice  of  his 
accountability.     Yea,  he  has  a  religious  nature ;  a  sense  of  the 
Divine  existence,  if  you  will,  which,  not  until  he  has   reasoned 
himself  into  metaphysical  madness,  or  besotted  his  soul  by  long 
habits  of  sensuality,  will  permit  him  to  say  in  his  heart  "  there  is 
no  God,"  or  leave  him  wholly  insensible  to  the  obligation  of  his 
worship. 

Might  we  not  then  expect,  from  the  analogy  of  his  dealings  in 
other  things,  that  God  would  make  provision  also  for  this  part  of 
man's  nature?  And  might  we  not  expect  it  the  more,  by  as 
much  as  this  is  the  highest  and  most  distinguishing  element  of 
his  complex  being  ?     Is  it  conceivable,  that  whilst  caring  for  all 


32  THE  NECESSITY   OF   A.  REVELATION. 

his  subordinate  wants,  as  he  manifestly  has,  God  should  leave 
him  unprovided  in  this  the  most  essential  want  of  his  nature: 
that  he  should  leave  him  with  the  consciousness  of  obligation  and 
accountability,  and  yet  uninstructed  in  the  relation  which  he 
sustains  to  his  Maker,  and  the  paramount  duties  growing  out  of 
that  relation  ? 

It  is  a  monstrous  supposition,  which  sober  Deism  itself  would 
reject,  with  indignant  scorn.  And  yet  on  the  assumption  that  man 
needs  a  revelation,  by  just  so  much  as  this  supposition  is  at  war 
with  right  reason,  and  the  analogies  of  the  divine  government,  by 
so  much  the  opposite  presumption  gathers  strength  and  force — 
that  a  revelation  would  be  granted.  The  Deist  would,  of  course, 
contend  that  God  had  made  ample  provision  for  man's  moral 
and  religious  nature  without  a  revelation.  But  we  are  arguing 
now  upon  the  assumption  that  he  has  not,  and  we  say,  that  that 
assumption  being  granted,  or  the  fact  being  proved,  even  Deism 
itself  must  admit  that  a  revelation  is  probable. 

Now  thus  much,  w^e  have  deemed  it  necessary  to  say,  towards 
exhibiting  in  advance,  the  nature  and  strength  of  that  presump- 
tive argument,  which  from  the  necessities  of  our  condition,  infers 
a  revelation.  Standing  thus  by  itself,  the  argument,  of  course, 
claims  not  to  have  the  urgency  of  a  demonstration.  But  estab- 
lishing a  probability,  that  probability  may  serve  as  a  link  in  the 
chain  of  induction,  which  binds  us  down  to  a  positive  and  un- 
avoidable conclusion.  We  have  intimated  already,  that  the  in- 
ference of  a  revelation  as  probable  from  its  alleged  necessity,  is 
but  a  part  of  the  general  argument  in  its  affirmative  aspect.  The 
expectation  of  a  revelation  brings  us  to  the  Book  itself,  and  we 
come  to  the  investigation  of  its  claims,  not  as  if  it  were  an  un- 
looked-for phenomenon,  but  as  to  an  event,  which  from  its  ante- 
cedent probability,  has  already  an  established  title  to  our  credence; 
a  title  which  can  only  be  set  aside  by  being  actually  disproved. 
There  is  here  a  presumptive  claim  which  casts  the  onus  i^rohandi 
upon  the  opposite  party.  Arrived  at  this  presumption,  we  hold 
then  that  the  argument  has  made  progress,  and  the  evidence  of 
revelation  in  any  of  its  departments  gains  force  and  urgency  from 
this  foregone  probability. 

But  the  probability  thus  derived  especially  leads  us — and  in  the 
attitude  of  expectants,  an  attitude  perfectly  compatible  with  ex- 
emption from  prejudice — to  examine  the  claims  of  any  supposed 
revelation,  with  particular  reference  to  those  necessities  on  account 


THE  NECESSITY   OF  A  REVELATION.  83 

of  which  it  was  given.  And  if  we  find  in  the  Bible  an  adaptation 
to  the  felt  wants  of  our  spiritual  nature,  we  are  brought  to  the 
direct  conclusion,  upon  the  principles  of  Deism  itself,  that  the 
Bible  is  a  revelation  from  God.  For  just  as  we  argue  from  the 
adaptations  of  external  nature,  a  designing  cause,  we  may  also 
argue  from  the  adaptations  of  Scripture  its  supernatural  and 
Divine  origin.  As  conclusively  as  in  the  one  case,  these  adapta- 
tions prove  the  being  of  a  God ;  those,  in  the  other  case,  transcend- 
ing as  they  do,  the  discoveries  of  the  human  intelligence,  prove 
the  Bible  to  be  from  Him.  Thus  much, .Dr.  Clialmers  fully  coo- 
cedes,  and  in  conceding  it,  shows  that  his  previous  exceptions  can 
only  hold  against  those  defective  representations  of  the  argument, 
which  make  of  the  presumption  a  certainty,  or  suppose  the  reason- 
ing to  stop  short  at  the  inference,  and  passing  over  the  interme- 
diate steps,  to  leap  at  once  from  the  bare  probabiHt}^  of  a  revela- 
tion, to  the  conclusion  that  the  Bible  is  that  revelation.  It  is  only 
with  reference  to  such  a  view  that  we  can  understand  him  as 
saying  that  "the  argument  is  altogether  premature  if  we  base  it 
upon  the  necessity  alone."  We  may  certainly  base  upon  the 
necessity  the  strong  presumption  which  we  have  considered,  and 
that  presumption  leading  us  to  examine  and  find  the  perfect 
adaptations  of  Scripture  to  our  felt  necessities,  we  may  thus 
"  arrive  at  the  truth  of  the  gospel  through  the  medium  of  its 
necessity,"  and  by  "a  pathway"  too,  sufficiently  "sohd"for  even 
the  Herculean  tread  of  a  Chalmers.  "  The  fitness  of  the  Bible,"  he 
says,  "  or  of  the  truths  which  are  in  it,  to  the  necessities  of  the 
human  spirit,  may  as  clearly  evince  the  hand  of  a  designer  in  the 
construction  of  this  volume,  as  the  fitness  of  the  world,  or  of  the 
things  which  are  in  it,  evinces  the  same  hand  in  the  construction 
of  external  nature.  They  are  both  cases  of  adaptation,  and  the 
one  is  just  as  good  an  argument  for  a  revealed  as  the  other  is  for 
a  natural  theology." 

If  we  have  occupied  considerable  space  in  exhibiting  the  true 
ground  and  scope  of  our  argument,  it  is  not  more  than  seemed  to 
be  required  by  the  treatment  which  it  has  received.  If  we  have 
succeeded  in  estabhshing  its  logical  propriety  and  force,  and 
marking  out  the  track  by  which  it  advances  to  a  just  and  definite 
conclusion,  we  shall  follow,  with  the  greater  interest  and  satisfac- 
tion, the  several  steps  of  its  progress. 

The  main  question  is  now  before  us,  and  we  shall  endeavor  to 
substantiate  what  we  have  hitherto  assumed. 

3 


84  THE  NECESSITY   OF   A  REVELATION. 

THE    NECESSITY    OF    A    REVELATION. 

la  exhibiting  the  pioofs  of  this  necessity,  we  shall  have  no 
occasion  to  depreciate  the  powers  of  the  human  reason  ;  to  over- 
look its  achievements  in  the  varied  departments  of  knowledge,  or 
to  deprecate  its  most  unfettered  exercise.  There  is  no  such 
Hutagonism  between  reason  and  revelation,  as  that  the  claims  of 
the  one,  can  only  be  made  good  at  the  expense  of  the  other.  It  is 
to  the  reason  that  Christianity  addresses  itself,  as  a  system  claim- 
ing to  be  Divine.  It  is  the  province  of  reason  to  judge  of  its  cre- 
dentials. And  it  is  always  the  faith  of  a  rational  conviction  which 
our  religion  demands.  Reason  has,  then,  an  important  office  to 
perform,  not  only  in  natural  theology,  but  also  in  supernatural. 
It  is  her  province,  by  deductions  from  the  works  and  the  ways  of 
God,  to  lead  the  inquirer  on  to  the  vestibule  of  truth.  It  is  hers  to 
enter  with  him  into  the  temple  itself,  and  pointing  out  the  glories 
and  beauties  of  the  inner  sanctuary,  it  is  hers,  together  with  her 
'disciple,  to  bow  in  adoring  reverence  at  its  shrine. 

The  question  is  not,  whether  reason  can  teach  us  anythin'g 
concerning  God  and  diitv,  but  whether  she  can,  unaided,  teach  us 
everything  which  it  is  necessary  for  us  to  know ; — not  whether 
she  has  any  light,  but  whether  she  has  light  enough,  to  dispel  the 
darkness  which  envelopes  our  condition  and  our  destiny.  Her  in- 
structions may  be  autlientic  and  truthful,  but  at  the  same  time 
they  may  be  indefinite  and  incomplete.  Her  light  may  be  light 
from  heaven,  and  yet,  like  the  lightning's  fitful  flash,  or  the  pale 
glimmer  of  the  stars,  it  may  only  reveal  our  danger,  without 
revealing  also  the  way  of  escape. 

Nor  is  it  our  purpose,  in  this  discussion,  to  portray  the  horrors 
of  heathenism,  ancient  or  modern,  and  presenting  the  dark  picture 
of  its  degrading  rites,  disgusting  manners,  and  cruel  maxims,  to 
bid  you  look  upon  this  as  the  utmost  effort  of  the  unaided  reason. 
Your  whole  moral  nature,  revolted  at  the  appalling  spectacle, 
would  recoil  from  the  assertion,  that  this  was  the  last  and  highest 
result  of  reason's  struggle  after  truth.  You  would  say,  and  justly 
sav,  that  it  is  not  amid  barbarous  and  savage  tribes  we  are  to  find 
the  measure  of  our  intellectual  and  moral  attainments,  any  more 
■than  we  would  look  for  the  perfection  of  our  physical  nature 
among  the  dwarfed,  deformed,  and  crippled  inmates  of  a  lazaretto. 
And  yet  the  horrors  of  heathenism  have  their  lesson  upon  this 
subject ;  a  lesson  which  we  cannot  ignore  or  escape.     They  reveal 


THE   NECESSITY   OF  A   REVELATION.  35 

to  US,  at  least,  the  depths  of  that  abyss  into  which  erring  humanity 
may  pkuige,  if  left  to  its  own  guidance.  Moreover,  account  for 
this  monstrous  departure  from  tlie  principles  of  even  natural 
theology  as  you  may,  the  tremendous  fact  is  still  before  you,  the 
incontestable  evidence,  that  reason  is  not  universally  an  adequate 
guide.  If  it  could  be  proved  that,  in  any  case,  her  discoveries 
were  commensurate  with  our  wants,  it  must  still  be  admitted  that 
to  millions  of  the  race,  and  for  countless  ages  together,  she  has 
not  served  as  a  guide  to  even  the  rudiments  of  truth  ;  she  has 
not  saved  them  from  the  utmost  degradation  of  which  our  nature 
is  capable. 

But  turning  from  savage  to  civilized  society  ;  from  the  barbarous 
and  semi-barbarous  to  the  most  enlightened  and  polished  nations 
and  ages  of  antiquity,  the  result  of  our  inquiry  will  be  scarcely  more 
flattering  to  the  pretensions  of  reason  as  a  sole  guide  in  religion. 
There  is  room  to  believe,  and  ground  for  the  assertion,  that  the 
most  eminent  sages  and  philosophers  were  more  indebted  for  any 
just  views  of  the  being  and  attributes  of  God,  and  the  relations 
and  obligations  of  man,  to  immemorial  tradition,  the  lingering 
light  of  the  original,  or  the  scattered  rays  of  the  Mosaic  revelation, 
than  to  their  own  independent  discoveries.  And  yet,  with  all  this 
extraneous  aid,  how  meagre  and  imperfect  their  systems  at  best ; 
how  inoperative  in  restraining  and  removing  the  idolatry  and 
superstition  of  the  masses.  Upon  the  primary  questions  of  natural 
theology,  their  doctrines  were  obscure,  and  conjectural,  and  con- 
tradictory. Upon  all  that  pertains  to  the  worship  of  God,  they 
were  silent,  from  a  confessed  incompetence  to  speak,  or  acquiescent 
in  absurdity,  because  ignorant  of  a  more  excellent  way.  Upon 
questions  vital  to  man's  happiness,  both  here  and  hereafter,  the 
great  problems  of  his  origin  and  his  destiny,  they  were  content  with 
the  wildest  dreams  of  poetry,  or  despairing  of  a  satisfactory  solution, 
they  awaited  in  dread  uncertainty  the  disclosures  of  hereafter. 

The  question  of  reason's  competnece  might  fairly  and  safely  be 
rested  upon  her  actual  achievements,  or  more  properly  speaking, 
upon  her  obvious  failures,  in  the  ages  preceding  the  advent  of  the 
Son  of  God.  The  philosophers  of  the  Academy,  the  Porch,  and 
the  Grove,  must  be  admitted,  on  all  hands,  as  the  competent  wit- 
nesses and  examples  of  her  power.  They  lived  in  an  age  of  learn- 
ing and  of  leisure  ;  they  walked  and  talked  amid  the  noblest 
creations  of  art ;  and  their  lives,  devoted  to  philosophy,  were  spent 
beneath  the  shadow  of  Parnassus,  and  beside  the  cool  flowing' 


36  THE  NECESSITY  OF  A  REVELATION. 

streams  of  Helicon.  And  yet,  what  is  their  concur  ent  testimony, 
direct  and  indirect,  but  the  unequivocal  and  unanswerable  evi- 
dence, that  "  the  world  by  wisdom  knew  not  God." 

But  it  may  be  alleged,  that  in  this,  as  in  other  respects,  the 
^yorld  has  grown  wiser,  as  it  has  grown  older ;  that  science  has 
made  progress  in  these  latter  days,  and  penetrating  farther  into 
the  arcana  of  nature,  reason  has  been  able  to  strike  out  new 
light  and  discover  new  truths  concerning  God  and  his  govern- 
ment. Not,  therefore,  to  the  sages  of  antiquity,  but  to  modern 
philosophy,  the  appeal  should  be  made.  Be  it  so ;  we  have 
nothing  to  object  against  this  transfer  of  the  inquiry,  if  so  the 
inquiry  shall  be  properly  conducted.  But  we  must  put  in  a  caveat 
here,  lest  the  light  of  revelation  should  be  confounded  wuth  the 
deductions  of  reason. 

It  is  a  notorious  and  instructive  fact  that  the  most  full  and  con- 
clusive systems  of  natural  theology,  extant  in  the  world,  have 
been  constructed  by  Christian  writers.  And  the  reason  is  obvious. 
There  is  an  immense  diiference  between  gathering  up  and  mar- 
shalling the  proofs,  which  go  to  establish  an  ascertained  conclu- 
sion, and  marching  up  by  a  long  line  of  existent  but  scattered  evi- 
dence to  the  same  conclusion,  as  yet  undiscovered.  It  is  just  the  dif- 
ference between  a  demonstration  and  a  discovery — the  one  may  be 
comparatively  easy,  to  those  with  whom  the  other  is  simply  impos- 
sible. To  say  then,  that  in  the  unaided  exercise  of  reason,  human 
philosophy,  in  the  nineteenth  century,  is  capable  of  constructing  a 
system  of  doctrine  and  morals  which  shall  be  exempt,  by  its  supe- 
rior elevation  and  purity,  from  man}^  of  the  objections  which  lie 
against  the  various  systems  of  antiquity,  is  to  assert  what  cannot 
be  proved  by  the  simple  production  of  such  a  system.  Philosophy 
has  now  for  nineteen  centuries  lived  and  breathed,  under  the  hght 
of  revelation.  And  for  her  now,  to  claim  as  discoveries  of  her  own, 
truths  long  ago  announced,  and  found  that  claim  upon  her  ability 
to  demonstrate  what  has  been  known  for  ages  and  demonstrated 
too,  would  only  be  equalled  in  absurdity,  by  one  who  in  this  day, 
having  sailed  from  Europe  to  America,  should  claim,  on  the  ground 
of  that  exploit,  to  have  discovered  a  continent.  The  question  is 
not,  what  can  be  proved  by  reasoning  to  be  true  ;  but  what  in  its 
unaided  exercise  the  reason  can  discover. 

What,  then,  has  modern  philosophy  whereof  to  boast,  over  the 
sages  of  antiquity,  beyond  that,  which  she  owes  to  the  light  of 
revelation?     We  are  not  advised  of  any  new  principle  in  morals 


THE   NECESSITY   OF   A   EEVELATION.  37 

evolved  by  the  progress  of  physical  science.  If  tliere  has  been  a 
more  complete  analysis  and  classification  of  our  mental  exercises, 
neither  has  this  changed  tlie  quality  of  actions,  or  added  a  single 
precept  to  the  code  of  human  obligations.  More  just  and  exalted 
conceptions  of  God  and  his  government  may  now  enter  into  the 
speculations  of  philosophy.  But  we  claim  it  for  revelation  to  have 
originated  those  conceptions,  and  the  claim  can  only  be  disproved 
by  authenticated  examples  of  the  like,  which  cannot  be  traced 
directly  or  indirectly  to  the  influence  of  its  teachings. 

There  are  many  truths  to  which  the  mind  readily  assents  as 
soon  as  they  are  proposed,  and  for  the  establishing  of  which  it  can 
easily  gather  up  abundant  and  conclusive  evidence,  but  which  yet 
lie  upon  the  very  borders,  if  not  actually  beyond  the  limit  of  its 
discovery. 

Like  Nebuchadnezzar's  forgotten  dream,  there  may  be  some  lin- 
gering and  indefinite  recollections,  not  enough  to  recall  the  em- 
bodiment or  the  outline  of  the  departed  image,  though  assisted  by 
all  the  arts  of  the  magicians  and  the  wise  men  of  the  world  ;  and 
yet  enough  to  recognize  it  instantly  when  it  is  made  to  stand  out 
in  all  its  proportions  of  gold  and  silver  and  brass  and  iron,  by  the 
revelation  of  the  Prophet.  So  there  may  be  lingering  lines  and 
traces  of  the  Divine  character,  written  upon  the  heart,  and  writ- 
ten upon  the  external  creation,  which  by  the  light  of  nature  alone, 
men  cannot  read  for  themselves,  but  which  illumined  by  the  light 
of  revelation  become  at  once  the  legible  and  impressive  records  of 
God  and  his  government.  And  under  the  clear  shining  of  a  sun, 
in  the  heavens,  the  philosoph)'-  of  our  day  may  decipher  these 
records,  and  expatiate  through  all  the  fields  of  natural  theology, 
and  attain  to  some  exalted  conceptions  of  God  and  duty,  the 
while  discarding,  but  not  the  less  indebted  to  that  supernatural 
light,  by  which  all  her  inquiries  have  been  directed  to  a  just  con- 
clusion. But  the  question  of  her  capacity,  is  not  to  be  settled  by 
ascertaining  how  much  of  truth  she  can  demonstrate,  but  how 
much  she  can  discover. 

Now,  to  settle  this  question,  the  only  legitimate  appeal  is  to  ex- 
perience. We  must  judge  of  what  man  can  do,  by  what  he  has 
actually  done  ;  and  accurately  to  judge,  it  must  be  by  what  he 
has  done  under  circumstances  which  preclude  the  suspicion  of  aid 
derived  from  that  revelation  which  he  discards.  Under  any 
known  circumstances,  indeed,  his  efforts  must  be  regarded  with 
the  unavoidable  impression  of  a  lingering  tradition,  more  or  less 


38  THE   NECESSITY   OF   A  REVELATION. 

defined,  which  had  its  origin  in  a  higher  source  than  his  own  in- 
telligence. But  subsequent  to  the  advent  of  the  Son  of  God,  the 
dim  remains  of  tradition  have  given  place  to  the  effulgence  of 
Gospel  truth.  And,  under  the  blaze  of  this  truth,  the  whole  field 
of  inquiry  has  been  so  illumined,  that  even  the  skepticism  which 
has  most  wilfully  shut  its  eyes,  and,  mole-like,  has  burrowed  the 
deepest,  has  still  found  its  caverns,  to  some  extent,  lighted  up  by 
its  rays.  Reason  cannot  now,  if  she  would,  construct  a  system 
of  natural  theology,  which  shall  be  the  product  alone  of  her  own 
deductions.  Truly  to  find  out  her  power,  we  must  go  back  to  the 
theologies  of  antiquity,  or  we  must  take  our  estimate  from  the 
abominations  of  that  heathenism  which  has  as  yet  been  unvisited 
by  the  light  of  revelation. 

But  to  vindicate  our  argument  to  the  fullest  extent,  and  estab- 
lish the  inadequacy  of  reason,  it  is  not  needful  to  press  this  advan- 
tage, or  insist  upon  the  inquiry  taking  either  of  these  directions. 
Natural  theology,  in  its  highest  development,  is  yet  inadequate  to 
meet  the  obvious  and  felt  wants  of  humanity. 

1.  And  it  is  so,  first,  because  its  teachings  are  so  diverse,  and 
therefore  uncertain,  concerning  even  the  first  principles  of  religion. 
Those  of  its  disciples  who  have  carried  their  speculations  the  far- 
thest, and  whose  circumstances  have  been  the  most  favorable  for 
the  discovery  of  truth,  are  by  no  means  agreed  in  their  doctrines, 
or  in  the  processes  by  which  the  truth  is  to  be  reached.  To  a 
great  extent,  the  history  of  modern  philosophy  has  been  the  his- 
tory of  motion  without  progress  ;  conflicts  and  victories  without 
conquests  ;  deductions  and  dogmas  without  discoveries ;  the  rise, 
prevalence,  and  decadence  of  systems,  without  satisfaction,  cer- 
tainty, or  safety  to  the  inquirer.  From  the  ample  and  diversified 
page  of  nature  without,  and  the  irregular  actings  and  agitations 
of  the  spirit  within,  as  the  data  of  their  investigations,  each  one 
has  had  his  interpretation,  his  theory,  his  dream,  until,  in  the  end- 
less jargon  of  the  schools,  the  mind  bewildered,  has  accepted 
words  for  wisdom,  sound  for  sense,  and  the  latest  as  the  greatest 
and  the  best  exposition  of  truth. 

(1.)  Take,  for  example,  the  teachings  of  philosophy  concerning 
the  being  and  attributes  of  God,  and  from  the  polytheism  of 
Greece,  to  the  pantheism  of  Germany,  where  did  ever  her  deduc- 
tions meet  and  centre  in  a  Divinity, 

"  A  God  full  orbed. 
In  the  whole  round  of  rays  complete," 


THE  NECESSITY   OF   A   KEVELATIOX.  39 

worthy  the  worship  of  an  ingenuous  mind,  and  meeting  all  its 
aspirations  and  desires?  The  light  of  nature,  to  those  who  have 
followed  it  only,  has  not  always  brought  the  conviction  of  that 
cardinal  truth,  the  existence  of  a  God.  Thus,  one  disciple  of 
reason  would  solve  his  doubts  by  a  silly  experiment,  and  he 
staked  his  faith  in  this  article  upon  the  issue  of  throwing  a 
stone  at  a  tree,  whether  he  should  hit  it  or  not.  And  another,  a 
poet,  not  unknown  to  fame,  amid  the  inspirations  of  Alpine 
scenery,  deliberately  writes  himself  an  atheist.  But,  convinced 
that  God  is,  there  remains  still  the  question,  "  What  is  God  ?" 
And  philosophy,  not  in  all  her  disciples  exhibiting  the  modesty  of 
a  Thales,  has  yet  exhibited  her  incompetence  to  reply,  in  every 
attempted  answer  to  that  question.  Surveying  the  vast,  compli- 
cated, and  yet  admirably  adjusted  and  harmonious  mechanism  of 
the  universe,  she  returns  from  her  research  to  tell  us  of  a  mechani- 
cal God  :  the  artificer  of  worlds  and  systems  ;  known  to  his  crea- 
tures only  by  the  evidence  of  skill  and  contrivance,  in  every 
organization  of  matter.  Turning,  then,  to  the  world  within — the 
chaos  of  human  emotions  and  passions — and  from  the  heights  of 
abstract  contemplation,  looking  down  upon  the  actings  and  agita- 
tions of  the  heart,  she  deifies  the  less  degrading  elements  of  char- 
acter, and  presents  us  with  the  God  of  sentimentality  ;  the  Divinity 
of  the  imagination  ;  an  apotheosis  of  some  hero  of  romance. 
Again,  constrained  by  unaccountable  events,  and  phenomena  that 
fall  not  within  the  operation  of  ascertained  laws,  to  acknowledge 
some  constant  connection  between  God  and  his  works,  and  yet 
shrinking  from  the  implied  personal  supervision  and  control  of  a 
universal  Governor  ;  by  the  potent  alembic  of  her  sophistries,  she 
forthwith  transmutes  both  the  God  of  sentimentality  and  the 
Creator  of  the  universe  into  the  universe  itself;  "a  power  without 
personality,  an  essence  without  feeling  ;"  the  dream-God  of  modern 
pantheism. 

•'  Man  must  have  a  God."  But  if  left  to  himself,  by  searching 
to  find  Him  out,  he  will  form  his  own  divinity,  and  he  will  make 
it  a  god  after  his  own  image.  Or,  if  made  sensible  of  the  absurd- 
ity of  deifying  his  own  tastes  and  desires,  and  disgusted  with  a 
Divinity  which  bears  so  strong  a  likeness  to  himself,  he-  seeks  to 
rise  to  a  more  exalted  conception  of  God ;  in  the  mazes  of  specu- 
lation he  elaborates  an  ethereal  essence,  too  impalpable  and  un- 
real to  be  the  object  of  human  love  or  aversion.  Embodying, 
then,  a  vague,  unintelligible  idea,  in  the  amplitude  of  high-sound- 


40  THE   NECESSITY   OF   A   REVELATIOX. 

ing  words  and  phrases — as  an  idle  fancy  gives  colossal  shape  and 
limbs  to  the  mist-cloud  of  a  summer  morning,  he  virtually  vacates 
the  throne  of  the  Eternal,  enthroning  there  the  phantom  of  his 
brain. 

Listen  for  a  moment  to  the  oracular  utterances  of  a  High 
Priest  of  modern  philosophy.  "  Thy  life,  as  alone  the  finite  mind 
can  conceive  it,  is  self-forming,  self-representing  will,  which  clothed 
to  the  eye  of  the  mortal  with  multitudinous  sensuous  forms,  flows 
through  me  and  the  whole  immeasurable  universe — here  stream- 
ing as  self-creating  matter  through  my  veins  and  muscles— there 
pouring  its  abundance  into  the  tree,  the  flower,  the  grass."* 

We  may  cease  to  smile  at  the  narrow  and  distorted  conceptions 
of  God — the  deities  of  an  earlier  and  darker  age,  Avhen  in  our  own 
there  emanates  from  the  schools  of  philosophy,  such  sublimated 
nonsense  as  this. 

(2.)  In  tlie  department  of  morals,  the  teachings  of  philosophy 
are  no  less  diversified  and  inadequate.  If  it  were  true,  as  has 
been  asserted,  that  every  cardinal  precept  of  the  Bible,  may  be 
found  somewhere  in  the  writings  of  some  one  or  other  of  unin- 
spired men  ;  yet  they  would  also  be  found  scattered  too  widely, 
to  be  gathered  into  a  system,  modified  and  neutralized  by  con- 
tradictory dotrines ;  and  founded  upon  such  different  and  deba- 
table grounds  of  obligation,  as  materially  to  weaken,  if  not  wholly 
to  destroy  their  weight  and  authority.  The  mind  bewildered  in 
its  notions  of  God,  can  never  have  clear  and  settled  conceptions 
of  duty. 

(3.)  So  also  concerning  futurity,  reason  can  give  us  nothing  but 
diversified  conjectures.  Granted,  that  her  deductions  are  so  direct 
and  conclusive,  as  to  leave  the  conviction  of  an  existence  beyond 
the  grave,  yet  it  is  at  best,  a  conviction,  which  may  be  character- 
ized as  an  apprehension  rather  than  a  hope.  Until  some  traveller 
returns  from  the  unseen  regions  of  the  dead,  or  a  revelation  from 
God  lifts  the  veil  which  intercepts  our  views,  imagination  may 
picture  its  scenes  in  the  dreams  of  poetry,  and  conscience  may 
anticipate  its  reversions  with  alarm  ;  but  reason  can  never  pro- 
nounce with  certainty  or  satisfaction. 

2.  But  even  though  we  should  grant  that,  to  a  few  gifted  minds, 

the  toil  of  patient  and  profound  investigation  might  be  rewarded 

by  the  discovery  of  all  necessary  truth  ;    yet  their  deductions, 

lying  far  beyond  the  reach  of  the  mass  of  mankind,  and  clothed 

*  Fichte.     Sc  5  McCosh,  on  "  Method  of  Divine  Government." 


THE  NECESSITY  OF  A  REVELATION".  41 

with  no  manifest  authority  from  heaven,  must  be  wholly  inopera- 
tive as  restraints,  and  entirely  inadequate  as  guides. 

The  utmost  that  can  be  claimed  for  natural  religion,  implies  in 
its  disciples,  an  extent  of  intelligence,  reflection  and  reasoning,  to 
which  the  great  mass  of  mankind  never  attain.  And  though 
the  maxims  of  the  few  may  be  delivered  to  the  many,  yet  re- 
garded only  as  the  opinions  of  men,  they  have  always  failed  to 
preserve  public  morals  and  order. 

The  reign  of  terror,  in  France,  was  the  jubilee  of  unbelief. 
Revelation  discarded,  and  Christianity  proscribed,  natural  rehgion 
had  an  open  field,  in  which  to  work  out  its  results,  and  make  full 
proof  of  its  power.  In  an  age  of  learning  and  refinement ;  an 
age  of  distinguished  progress  in  science  and  the  arts,  at  a  period 
bordering  upon  the  nineteenth  century ;  and  in  the  fairest  capital 
of  Europe,  with  philosophers  for  its  priests,  the  temples  of  God 
for  its  altars,  and  unlimited  power  and  wealth  for  its  support ; 
what  was  the  result  ?  The  story  has  been  often  told,  and  in  the 
annals  of  the  world's  history  it  will  stand  a  record  to  all  coming 
time,  of  human  depravity  unrestrained,  misery  unmitigated,  and 
crimes  without  a  parallel.  Atheism,  practical  and  avowed,  ob- 
literated all  reverence  for  the  being  and  authority  of  God ;  lust 
and  cruelty  triumphed  over  prostrate  order  and  virtue ;  a  can- 
nibal fury  trampled  upon  the  instincts  of  nature ;  and  with 
hands  dripping  gore,  with  banners  inscribed  with  names  of  blas- 
phemy, and  with  bacchanal  songs  upon  their  lips,  a  phrenzied 
people  march  to  the  very  altars  of  religion,  to  crown  and  con- 
summate their  extravagance  of  impiety,  by  enthroning  a  harlot 
as  the  goddess  of  reason  ! 

That  such  excesses  are  at  variance  with  the  principles  of 
natural  religion,  and  the  dictates  of  right  reason,  will  not  be 
denied.  We  appeal  to  them,  not  as  the  examples  of  what  reason 
would  teach,  but  as  the  examples  of  depravity  triumphing  over 
reason,  when,  discarding  revelation,  she  exalts  herself  as  the 
guardian  and  guide  of  public  morals.  We  appeal  to  them  as  the 
instances,  in  which  the  fountain  of  iniquity  in  the  human  heart 
has  poured  out  the  tide  of  its  bitter  waters,  sweeping  away  the 
frail  barriers  which  human  philosophy  had  reared ;  overflowing 
its  ancient  channels,  and  ploughing  up  the  very  foundations  of 
society.  Take  away  the  hold  which  revelation  has  upon  the 
conscience,  and  the  elaborate  theories,  profound  maxims,  and 
admired   precepts   vi^hich   a  philosopher   may  excogitate   in   his 


42  THE   NECESSITY  OF  A  REVELATION". 

study,  will  fall  as  powerless  upon  the  ear  of  an  excited  populace, 
as  falls  the  snow-flake  upon  the  billows  of  the  storm-ridden  ocean. 
Even  Robespierre  confessed,  that  to  save  France  from  lapsing 
back  into  barbarism,  it  was  necessary  to  find  a  God,  or  to  invent 
one.  And  when  the  far-reaching  sagacity  of  Napoleon  restored 
the  former  religion,  in  spite  of  the  scorn  and  ridicule  of  the  philoso- 
phers, it  was  well  said  by  one  of  his  counsellors,  "  The  natural 
religion  to  which  one  may  rise  by  the  effects  of  a  cultivated  rea- 
son, is  merely  abstract  and  intellectual,  and  unfit  for  any  people. 
It  is  revealed  religion  which  points  out  all  the  truths  that  are  use- 
ful to  men,  who  have  neither  time  nor  means  for  laborious  dis- 
quisition." 

3.  But  we  have  now  arrived  at  a  point  in  the  argument,  from 
whence  we  may  take  higher  ground.  We  have  alluded  to  the 
confessed  inadequacy  of  the  unaided  reason,  as  discovered  in  the 
varied  religions  of  heathenism.  We  have  considered  her  achieve- 
ments, when  receiving  important,  but  unacknowledged  aid,  from 
the  revelation  which  she  discards  ;  and  we  have  found  that,  even 
then,  her  discoveries  and  her  influence  have  not  been  equal  to  her 
pretensions.  Let  us  now  estimate  her  teachings  under  the  most 
favorable  circumstances,  when  the  whole  field  of  investigation  is 
lighted  up  by  revelation,  and  when  her  inquiries  are  all  directed 
towards  ascertained  conclusions. 

The  question  is  not  now  what  reason  can  discover,  but  what 
she  can  prove  to  be  true.  So  far  as  the  character  and  govern- 
ment of  God  are  manifested  in  his  works,  nature,  rightly  interro- 
gated, always  gives  truthful  answers.  The  incompetency  of  the 
unaided  reason,  as  it  has  thus  far  appeared,  is  to  be  ascribed 
mainly  to  the  misdirection  of  her  inquiries,  and  the  lameness  of 
her  deductions.  The  accumulated  experience  of  the  past,  there- 
fore, proves  the  necessity  of  a  revelation,  by  as  much  as  it  proves 
that  reason  never  would  have  discovered  even  those  truths  which 
the  volume  of  nature  contains.  With  that  volume  before  him, 
written  all  over  with  the  handwriting  of  God,  man  has  not  been 
able  to  read  the  truth,  or  if  he  has,  by  the  potency  of  an  evil 
heart,  he  has  also  "  changed  the  truth  of  God  into  a  lie." 

But  let  nature  have  an  interpreter,  and  yet  we  hold,  that  when 
interrogated  in  every  part  by  an  instructed  reason,  her  responses 
will  be  too  few  to  satisfy  our  wants — wants  increasing  with  our 
knowledge.  It  was  the  wise  and  profound  saying  of  D'Alembert, 
that  "man  has  too  little  sagacity  to  resolve  an  infinity  of  ques- 


THE   NECESSITY   OF   A  REVELATION".  43 

tions,  which  he  has  yet  sagacity  enough  to  make."  Now  this 
appears  to  be  precisely  the  case  with  Natural  Tiieology.  There 
is  a  limit  to  her  instructions,  beyond  which  she  cannot  carry  us ; 
and  yet  beyond  that  limit  lie  unresolved  the  most  momentous 
questions  of  our  condition  and  destiny.  Natural  Theology  brings 
us  to  these  questions,  and  leaves  us  there.  She  states  the  condi- 
tions of  the  problem,  but  gives  us  no  solution.  She  sets  before  us 
the  difficulty  and  the  danger,  but  she  points  to  no  way  of  escape, 
except  as  her  silence,  when  further  interrogated,  intimates  the 
necessity,  and  inspires  the  hope  of  another  and  safer  guide. 

Let  us  look  at  a  few  facts,  and  the  conclusions  to  which  they 
lead. 

There  is  in  man  a  certain  law,  faculty,  or  sentiment  (call  it  by 
what  name  you  please)  in  obedience  to  which  he  universally 
recognizes  the  distinction  of  right  and  wrong.  This  is  one 
of  the  most  obvious  facts  in  human  nature.  It  may  have  been 
obscured,  at  times,  by  the  speculations  of  philosophy,  but,  through- 
out the  whole  circle  of  metaphysics,  the  fact  has  still  been  acknowl- 
edged, whilst  the  contention  has  been  about  questions  of  nomen- 
clature, or  theories  of  explanation.  As  little  has  philosophy  invaded 
the  generally  conceded  and  felt  supremacy  of  conscience.  "  Upon 
whatever,"  says  Dr.  Adam  Smith,  "  we  suppose  that  our  moral 
faculties  are  founded,  whether  upon  a  certain  modification  of  rea- 
son, upon  an  original  instinct  called  a  moral  sense,  or  on  some 
other  principle  of  our  nature,  it  cannot  be  doubted  that  they  are 
given  us  for  the  direction  of  our  conduct  in  this  life."  "  The 
rules,  therefore,  which  they  prescribe,  are  to  be  regarded  as  the 
command  and  laws  of  the  Deity,  promulgated  by  those  vice- 
gerents which  he  has  set  up  within  us."*  Cicero,  in  his  cele- 
brated passage,  represents  the  conscience,  in  like  manner,  as  a 
universal  law,  clothed  with  Divine  sanctions.  "  Nor  does  it  speak 
one  language  at  Rome  and  another  at  Athens,  varying  from 
place  to  place,  or  from  time  to  time,  but  addresses  itself  to  all 
nations,  and  to  all  ages,  deriving  its  authority  from  the  common 
Sovereign  of  the  universe,  and  carrying  home  its  sanctions  to 
every  breast  by  the  inevitable  punishment  which  it  inflicts  on 
transgressors."  "  Had  it  strength,"  says  Butler,  "  as  it  has  right, 
had  it  power,  as  it  has  manifest  authority,  it  would  absolutely 
govern  the  world."     Its  right  to  the  throne  of  the  human  heart 

*  Theory  of  Moral  Sentiments,  p.  iii.  chap.  v. 


44  THE   NECESSITY   OF  A  KEVELATION, 

is  acknowledged,  even  when  that  throne  has  been  usurped  by 
some  dominant  inclination  or  passion. 

"  Cast  your  eyes,"  says  Rousseau,  "  over  all  the  nations  of  the 
world,  and  all  the  histories  of  nations.  Amid  so  many  inhuman 
and  absurd  superstitions — amid  that  prodigious  diversity  of  man- 
ners and  characters,  you  will  find  everywhere  the  same  principles 
and  distinctions  of  moral  good  and  evil.  The  paganism  of  the 
ancient  world  produced,  indeed,  abominable  gods,  who  on  earth 
would  have  been  shunned  or  punished  as  monsters,  and  who 
offered,  as  a  picture  of  supreme  happiness,  only  crimes  to  commit, 
and  passions  to  satiate.  But  Vice,  armed  with  this  sacred  author- 
ity, descended  in  vain  from  the  eternal  abode  :  she  found,  in  the 
heart  of  man,  a  moral  instinct  to  repel  her.  The  continence  of 
Xenocrates  was  admired  by  those  who  celebrated  the  debaucheries 
of  Jupiter, — the  chaste  Lucretia  adored  the  unchaste  Venus, — the 
most  intrepid  Roman  sacrificed  to  Fear."* 

Now  these  quotations  are  given,  not  so  much  to  establish,  as  to 
express  a  truth,  to  which  the  consciousness  of  every  man  responds, 
that  there  is  within  his  breast  a  power,  principle,  or  sentiment, 
which  recognizes  moral  distinctions,  and  delivers  its  decisions 
with  the  authority  of  a  judge,  and  with  the  high  sanctions  of 
present  and  prospective  pain  or  pleasure. 

But  frotn  this  truth,  we  easily  rise  to  another.  The  monitions 
of  conscience  imply  a  rule  of  duty,  and  a  ground  of  obligation. 
The  acknowledged  supremacy  of  conscience,  even  where  its  dic- 
tates are  disobeyed,  is  the  confession  that  this  obligation  is  para- 
mount, and  this  law  is  heaven-derived.  The  sentences  pro- 
nounced by  this  judge  within  the  breast,  are  felt  to  be  the  echoes 
from  a  higher  tribunal.  And  the  sanctions  with  which  they  are 
clothed,  proclaiming  the  Divine  regard  for  virtue,  and  aversion 
to  sin,  proclaim  also  the  righteousness  of  God,  and  a  moral 
government  administered  by  Him,  connected  with  rewards  and 
penalties.  If,  from  the  constitution  of  external  nature,  we  infer 
(he  wisdom  and  power  of  God,  so,  from  the  original  moral  consti- 
tution of  man,  we  may  also  infer  other  and  higher  attributes. 
And  if  upon  that  constitution  he  has  impressed  the  law  of  right- 
eousness, we  may  be  sure  "it  must  have  been  transcribed  from  the 
prior  tablet  of  his  own  nature." 

But,  it  may  be  objected,  the  decisions  of  conscience  are  too 
diversified   and   contradictory  to  warrant   this   inference.      The 

*  Quoted  by  Di    Brown,  Lect.  15. 


THE   NECESSITY   OF  A  EEVELATION".  45 

apparent  want  of  uniformity  in  our  moral  judgments  will  not  be 
denied  ;  an  examination  of  the  facts,  however,  would  show  that 
this  diversity  is  more  apparent  than  real.  The  conscience,  like  a 
court  of  law,  decides  upon  an  action  according  to  the  evidence 
laid  before  it,  and  if  it  ever  approves  the  wrong,  or  disapproves 
the  right,  it  is  because  the  understanding  has  presented  a  false 
issue  to  its  decision,  being  itself  either  misinformed  or  misled. 

But  if  we  look  a  little  more  closely  into  the  operations  of  con- 
science, we  shall  find  that  its  sanctions  do  not  terminate  with  the* 
present  pleasure  or  pain,  consequent  upon  its  approval  or  dis- 
approval. For  the  time  being,  its  voice  may  be  so  far  overborne 
by  the  turbulence  of  passion,  as  hardly  to  awaken  the  sensibili- 
ties. But  when  its  sentence  falls  upon  the  heart,  like  the  voice 
of  doom,  and  its  reproaches,  like  a  whip  of  scorpions,  yet  its  inflic- 
tions always  imply  something  more  than  any  measure  or  degree 
of  present  remorse.  Memory  has  recorded  the  deed  of  guilt,  and 
whenever  the  record  is  perused,  conscience  repeats  its  sentence, 
and  re-enacts  its  punishment.  Nor  is  this  all.  In  every  decision 
of  this  judge  upon  any  particular  act,  whether  it  be  for  the  first, 
or  for  the  fiftieth  time,  the  pleasure  of  its  approval  is  always 
linked  to  the  inspiration  of  hope,  and  the  pain  of  its  condemnation 
is  enhanced  by  the  apprehensions  of  fear.  Thus  conscience  her- 
self proclaims,  that  her  sentence  and  her  sanctions  are  not  ulti- 
mate, but  the  prognostics  and  precursors  of  higher  rewards,  or 
heavier  vengeance,  consequent  upon  the  final  sentence  of  the 
infinite  Judge. 

Now,  it  is  in  full  view  of  these  ascertained  truths  ; — that  God  is 
a  righteous  moral  governor,  and  will  maintain  the  distinction  of 
right  and  wrong,  in  the  administration  of  his  government,  by 
rewarding  the  one  and  punishing  the  other ;  that  conscience,  yet 
further,  pronounces  upon  the  character  of  every  man,  and  its  ver- 
dict, in  regard  to  the  individual,  is  always.  Guilty !  This,  her 
sentence,  is  recorded  in  every  breast,  and  for  the  proofs  of  the 
fact,  we  have  but  to  refer  to  every  man's  consciousness.  Such, 
then,  is  our  condition,  according  to  the  teachings  of  natural 
theology  ; — there  is  a  righteous  God,  administering  a  govern- 
ment of  retributive  justice,  and  by  the  testimony  of  our  own 
hearts,  we  are  guilty  in  his  sight :  and,  yet  more ; — this  con- 
sciousness of  guilt  brings  terror  in  its  train.  We  feel  that  the  dis- 
approval of  conscience  is  not  the  ultimate  punishment;  is  not  all 
that  we  deserve  ;  but  is  itself  the  confession,  that  we  deserve  some- 


46  THE  NECESSITY   OF  A   REVELATION. 

thing  beyond  it.  The  guilty  mind  turns  involuntarily  towards 
the  future,  and,  unable  to  penetrate  its  darkness,  looks  upon  its 
darkness  with  instinctive  apprehension.  So  far  as  past  experience 
or  observation  throws  any  light  upon  that  darkness,  it  serves  but 
to  heighten  that  apprehension.  For,  whenever  we  have  suffered 
what  may  be  styled  the  natural  consequences  of  sin,  in  the  pains 
and  penalties  attendant  upon  a  violation  of  the  laws  of  our  nature, 
we  have  not  found  any  degree  of  present  suffering,  satisfying  the 
demands  of  conscience,  or  silencing  its  voice  ;  but  the  rather 
awaking  its  sterner  rebukes,  and  its  more  fearful  denunciations. 
And  when,  in  others,  we  have  seen  the  consequences  of  a  single 
sin,  or  a  series,  mysteriously  interwoven  throughout  the  whole 
history  of  life,  and  bringing  down  accumulated  sorrows  upon 
hoary  age,  the  conscience  of  hoary  age  has  still  re-enacted  its 
sentence,  and,  in  the  very  hour  of  dissolution,  it  has  still  thundered 
through  the  chambers  of  the  soul  the  verdict  of  Guilty ! 

And  this  brings  us  to  still  another  fact,  which,  together  with  the 
preceding,  will  give  us  the  true  conditions  of  a  problem,  which 
natural  theology  may  propound,  but  cannot  solve. 

It  is  manifest,  from  the  constitution  of  our  nature,  and  the  dis- 
pensations of  Providence,  that  God  exercises  a  moral  government 
over  the  world.  But  it  is  equally  plain,  that,  in  this  present 
world,  the  sanctions  of  that  government  are  not  fully  developed. 
We  see  enough  to  conclude  that  He  is  a  God  that  "  loveth  right- 
eousness and  hateth  iniquity,"  and  yet  we  do  not  see  a  system  of 
rewards  and  punishments,  invariably  meting  out  to  individuals 
according  to  their  deserts.  The  spectacle  of  flourishing  impiety 
and  suffering  virtue,  whilst  not  so  constant  as  to  unsettle  the  con- 
viction of  a  righteous  government,  is  yet  too  common  to  admit  the 
supposition  that  present  allotments  are  its  ultimate  rewards.  But 
from  the  manifest  tokens  of  retribution  on  the  one  hand,  and  the 
occasional  discrepancies  between  character  and  condition  on  the 
other,  there  is  but  one  conclusion  to  be  derived.  We  live  under  a 
moral  government,  which,  as  to  its  sanctions,  is  not  yet  fully 
developed.  Conscience  has  pronounced  its  sentence,  but  the 
execution  is  postponed.  Analogous  to  those  cases,  in  which  the 
transgressor  enjoys  for  years  a  seeming  impunity,  until  suddenly 
the  consequences  of  his  sin  overtake  him,  so  there  may  be  res-erved 
for  a  futurity  beyond  the  grave,  the  punishment  of  sin  which  has 
passed  through  life  with  a  seeming  exemption.  The  difficulties 
which  surround  the  administration  of  Divine  Providence,  demand 


THE  NECESSITY   OF   A   REVELATION".  47 

this  explanation  ;  and  conscience  confirms  it,  by  those  presages  of 
the  future,  which  still  attend  the  sinne-r  down  to  the  very  gates  of 
the  grave ;  there  she  dismisses  him  from  all  farther  sorrow  and 
suffering  on  earth,  and  yet  she  sends  him  thence  into  eternity, 
with  the  verdict  of  '-'■Guilty'''  upon  his  soul,  to  await  the  final 
award. 

Given,  then,  by  the  deductions  of  Natural  Theology,  a  righteous 
Governor,  a  broken  law,  a  condemning  conscience,  and  a  retribu- 
tive administration,  which  carries  its  sanctions  into  the  other 
world,  and  we  have  now  the  problem  to  be  solved,  the  grand 
question  upon  which  human  destiny  hinges,  "  How  can  man  be 
just  with  God?" 

We  come  with  this  question  to  the  disciple  of  Natural  Theology, 
and  we  demand  an  answer,  other  tha-n  that  which  revelation  has 
given,  which  shall  yet  be  satisfactory  to  the  reason  and  the  con- 
science. 

He  certainly  will  not  point  us  to  the  altars  of  heathenism, 
streaming  with  the  blood  of  beasts,  or  dyed  with  human  gore. 
There  we  may  read  the  confession  of  guilt,  and  the  felt  and  fear- 
ful demerit  of  sin ;  but  no  words  of  pardon  are  written  there,  which 
reason  recognizes  as  the  handwriting  of  God. 

He  may  refer  us  to  the  evident  proofs  of  the  Divine  benignity, 
in  the  azure  beauty  of  the  heavens  ;  the  balmy  breath  of  spring  ; 
the  odor  of  spices  ;  the  song  of  birds  ;  the  teeming  earth,  robed 
in  its  mantle  of  green,  radiant  with  sunlight  and  flowers,  or  rich 
in  the  golden  sheen  of  its  waving  harvests.  But  if,  in  these,  he 
would  find  the  impress  of  a  benevolence  which  knows  no  wrath, 
the  darkening  heavens  frown  upon  the  false  induction ;  the  burn- 
ing simoom  of  the  desert,  or  the  borean  blasts  of  winter,  sweep 
away  the  idle  hope  ;  the  desolating  tornado,  or  the  dark  wing  of 
the  pestilence,  leave  destruction  and  misery  in  their  path,  and  the 
yawning  earthquake  answers  back  to  the  crashing  thunder  of  the 
clouds,  that  the  God  of  nature,  moving  in  terrible  majesty,  is  a 
God  to  be  feared  as  well  as  loved. 

Will  he  tell  us,  then,  of  those  natural  consequences  of  sin,  its 
effects  upon  the  body,  and  the  mind,  and  the  condition,  in  this 
present  world,  as  its  only  and  sufficient  expiation?  This  con- 
nection between  sin  and  sufifering,  though  it  may  be  real,  is  not 
always  apparent.  To  the  utmost  of  our  apprehension,  it  is  often 
interrupted,  and  oftener  still  disproportionate.  When  it  occurs  as 
a  most  manifest  retribution,  it  does  not  silence,  but  rather  stimu- 


48  THE   NECESSITY  OF  A  REVELATIOK 

lates,  the  reproaches  of  conscience,  and  the  apprehensions  of  the 
g'uilty.  It  reaches  onward,  sometimes,  from  the  early  dawn  to 
the  evening  shadows  of  hfe,  and,  linking  the  sorrows  of  old  age  to 
the  transgressions  of  youth,  it  marks  a  progression  of  punishment 
which  has  no  necessary  termination  at  death,  and  which  reason 
and  conscience  concur  in  extending  into  eternity. 

But  we  are  told  of  a  repentance,  which  recognizing  the  au- 
thority of  the  law,  and  implying  some  kind  and  degree  of  sorrow 
on  account  of  its  transgression,  may  come  in  the  place  of  suffer- 
ing, and  equally  satisfy  the  Lawgiver. 

If  such  is  indeed  the  fact,  it  can  only  be  known  by  means  of 
some  communications,  more  or  less  direct  from  God  himself. 
But  revelation  discarded,  it  must  then,  either  be  written  on  the 
heart,  legibly  as  the  law  itself,  or  it  must  be  ascertained  by 
induction  and  inference. 

1.  But.  so  far  as  our  observation  of  God's  dealings  extends, 
there  is  nothing  to  warrant  this  inference.  What  are  called  the 
natural  consequences  of  sin,  and  which  are  but  so  many  intima- 
tions of  the  Divine  purpose  to  punish  it ;  are  not  suspended  by 
the  repentance  of  the  sinner.  Contrition  the  most  hearty,  brings 
not  back  to  the  debauchee  his  ruined-  health  and  fortune ;  un- 
locks no  prison  doors ;  empties  no  hospitals.  The  connection 
between  sin  and  suffering,  so  far  as  we  can  trace  it,  is  unin- 
terrupted by  repentance,  and  argues  not  forgiveness,  but  its 
opposite. 

2.  Is  the  conclusion,  then,  rested  upon  the  analogy  of  human 
conduct  ?  This  would  require  us  first,  to  show  that  any  of  the 
relations  which  men  sustain  to  each  other,  is  in  every  respect  the 
counterpart  to  that  which  we  sustain  to  the  Almighty,  and  then, 
that  our  conduct  in  that  relation  is  heaven  directed.  It  is  true 
that  a  parent  forgives  a  penitent  child,  and  God  is  our  Heavenly 
Father.  But  then  it  is  also  true  that  our  Heavenly  Father  is 
God.  As  creatures  of  the  same  mould  our  authority  over  each 
other  is  limited,  and  can  bear  but  a  faint  analogy  to  the  preroga- 
tives of  Jehovah.  A  sense  of  our  infirmity  and  errors  should 
make  us  forgiving,  whereas  the  essential  attributes  of  Deitj', 
would  rather  imply  in  Him,  an  inflexible  justice.  It  is,  then,  at 
best,  a  precarious  inference,  which  from  the  analogy  of  human 
conduct  would  conclude,  the  probability  of  Divine  forgiveness. 

3.  But  will  it,  then,  be  said,  that  God  has  written  the  law  of 
forgiveness  upon  the  heart,  side  by  side  with  the  law  of  obedience. 


THE   NECESSITY   OF   A   EEVELATION.  49 

and  by  the  same  light  by  which  we  read  the  one,  we  may  leant 
the  other  also  ? 

Wherein  such  an  arrangement  would  differ  from  a  direct  repeal 
of  the  law,  it  must,  from  the  known  principles  of  human  nature, 
serve  only  to  stimulate  transgression,  by  a  seeming  restraint,  and 
render  it  the  more  daring,  by  an  actual  impunity.  It  would  be 
substituting  repentance,  for  the  penalty  of  the  law,  and  certifying 
the  sinner  in  advance,  that  a  life  of  iniquity,  when  the  limits  of 
its  enjoyment  had  been  reached,  could  all  be  expiated  by  the 
brief  sorrows  of  contrition.  But  let  us  examine  the  record,  and 
we  shall  find  that  no  such  law  of  forgiveness  has  been  written 
upon  the  heart.  The  denunciations  of  conscience  do  inde^Jd  call 
the  sinner  to  repentance,  and  her  sentence  becomes  the  more 
severe,  and  his  guilt  is  increased  by  every  disregard  of  that  call. 
But  when  it  is  regarded,  and  the  culprit  at  her  bar,  stands  con- 
victed and  penitent,  recognizing  the  authority  of  the  law,  and  his 
own  demerit,  does  conscience  thereupon  dismiss  the  cause  and 
the  criminal,  from  all  further  jurisdiction  and  impeachment  for 
that  crime  ?  So  far  from  it,  it  is  the  most  alarming  element  in 
her  sanctions,  that  her  sentence  hands  him  over  to  a  higher  tri- 
bunal, and  meanwhile  she  holds  him  as  in  durance,  by  keeping 
before  his  mind,  ever  and  anon,  his  sin  and  its  demerit.  His 
tears  cannot  wash  out  the  record,  but  the  more  sincere  his  re- 
pentance, the  clearer  his  conception  of  the  turpitude  of  his  sin, 
and  the  more  distinct  his  acknowledgment  of  its  ill  desert,  with- 
out the  slightest  implication  of  forgiveness,  in  the  exercises  of  his 
own  heart.  The.  connection  between  repentance  and  pardon  is 
not  a  doctrine  of  natural  Theology,  whilst  the  connection  between 
sin  and  suffering  most  clearly  is.  The  question  then  returns 
upon  us,  with  all  its  urgency,  "How  shall  man  be  just  with 
God?"  The  grand  problem  of  humanity  remains  yet  unresolved, 
Natural  Theology  having  served  only  to  develop  its  conditions, 
and  press  home  the  necessity  of  an  adequate  and  authorized 
solution.  This  limit  to  its  teachings,  is  well  summed  up,  in  the 
nervous  language  of  Chalmers.  "  There  is  in  it  enough  of  mani- 
festation to  awaken  the  fears  of  guilt,  but  not  enough  again  to 
appease  them.  It  emits,  and  audibly  emits  a  note  of  terror;  but 
in  vain  do  we  listen  for  one  authentic  word  of  comfort  from  any 
of  its  oracles.  It  is  able  to  see  the  danger,  but  not  the  deliver- 
ance. It  can  excite  the  forebodings  of  the  human  spirit,  but  can- 
not quell  tbeni — knowing  just  enough-  to  stir  the  perplexity,  but 


50  THE  NECESSITY   OF   A  EEYELATION. 

not  enough  to  set  the  perplexity  at  rest.  *  *  There  must  be  a 
measure  of  light,  we  do  allow  ;  but  like  the  lurid  gleam  of  a  vol- 
cano, it  is  not  a  light  which  guides,  but  which  bewilders  and 
terrifies.  It  prompts  the  question,  but  cannot  frame  or  furnish 
the  reply.  Natural  Theology  may  see  as  much  as  shall  draw 
forth  the  anxious  interrogation.  "  What  shall  I  do  to  be  saved?" 
The  answer  to  this  comes  from  a  higher  theology."* 

From  the  insufficiency  of  Natural  Theology,  then,  as  mani- 
fested in  the  errors  and  abominations  of  heathenism ;  in  the 
limited  and  defective  systems  of  a  classic  age,  blending  numbei'- 
less  absurdities  with  a  few  elementary  truths ;  in  the  results  of 
modern  philosophy ;  and  in  the  law  of  conscience ;  we  conclude, 
that  the  necessity  of  a  Revelation,  is  no  longer  an  assumed,,  but 
a  demonstrated  fact. 

1.  But  if  so,  this  necessity,  as  we  have  seen,  overthrows  that 
entire  fabric  of  infidelity,  which  is  built  upon  the  assumption  of 
the  sufficiency  of  nature's  light. 

2.  It  furthermore  rises  above  the  ruins  of  that  hypothesis,  a 
well-founded  presumption,  which  in  the  light  of  God's  attributes, 
becomes  a  strong  probability,  that  a  Revelation  would  be  given. 

3.  From  the  vantage  ground  of  this  probability,  we  are  brought 
to  inquire  for  that  revelation  so  justly  expected.  And  by  as  much 
as  the  Bible  is  superior  and  eminent  beyond  comparison,  among 
all  alleged  communications  of  the  Divine  will,  by  so  much,  this 
probability  becomes  a  direct  evidence  to  its  truth.  The  proofs  of 
its  Divine  original,  in  all  their  variety  of  miracles,  prophecy,  and 
precept;  gain  strength  and  urgency  from  this  foregone  probability. 
But  if,  besides,  we  find  in  the  Bible  a  complete  correspondence  and 
adaptation  to  those  wants  of  ouv  nature  which  proclaim  its  neces- 
sity, the  argument,  here,  becomes  demonstrative,  and  is,  precisely, 
that  reasoning  from  effect  to  cause,  by  which,  from  the  adaptations 
«f  external  nature,  we  prove  an  intelligent  Creator. 

To  exhibit,  fully,  this  correspondence  and  adaptation,  would 
refjuire  another  Lecture,  yea,  it  would  require  a  volume.  But,  from 
«ven  entering  upon  a  field  so  inviting,  we  are  precluded,  not  merely 
'by  the  vastness  of  its  extent,  but  because  unwilling  to  trench  upon 
a  topic  which  belongs  more  properly  to  other's.  You  will  have  no 
reason  to  regret  the  limits,  thus  imposed,  and  for  ourselves,  we 
are  well  content  to  perform  the  humbler  office  of  an  usher,  to  an 

*  Bridgewatcr  Treatise. 


THE  JSTECESSITY  OF  A  EEVELATION.  -51 

argument,  which  we  regard  as  one  of  the  most  convincing  within 
the  whole  range  of  the  Evidences  of  Christianity. 

But  if  we  may  not  extend  our  argument,  and  carry  it  home  to 
a  legitimate  conchision  in  the  track  which  we  have  indicated,  we 
may,  perhaps,  prepare  you  the  better  for  that  conclusion,  and 
deepen  the  felt  conviction  of  the  necessity  of  a  revelation,  by 
recurrinff  for  a  moment  to 


THE    CONDITION    OF    MAN    WITHOUT    IT. 

It  is  recorded  of  a  tyrant,  whose  cruelty  rivers  of  blood  could  not 
satiate,  that  in  the  greediness  of  a  cannibal  ferocity,  he  uttered  a 
wish,  that  the  whole  Roman  people  had  but  one  neck,  and  with  a 
single  blow  he  would  destroy  them  all.  By  their  manifest  desire 
to  extirpate  the  existence,  and  the  very  name  of  Christianity  from 
the  earth,  the  advocates  of  infidelity  confess  to  a  wish  even  yet 
more  atrocious. 

We  do  not  judge  them  too  harshly,  in  saying  this,  for  whilst  we 
would  not  ascribe  to  them,  in  all  cases,  a  malice  prepense,  in  that 
which  they  desire,  yet  we  do  maintain,  that  he  labors  to  inflict  a 
greater  injury  upon  his  race,  who  ignorantly  or  otherwise  seeks  to 
shut  out  the  light  of  heaven  from  the  human  mind,  than  he  who 
could  find  it  in  his  heart  to  annihilate  a  nation.  Happily,  the  pur- 
pose of  unbelief  is  quite  as  impracticable  as  the  fiendish  thought 
of  a  Nero,  every  assault  upon  Christianity  having  only  served  to 
establish  it  the  more,  by  bringing  out  into  more  bold  relief  the  ac- 
cumulated and  accumulating  evidences  of  its  truth.  But  let  us 
suppose  the  object  of  infidelity  to  be  accomplished,  the  light  of 
revelation  to  be  extinct,  and  Christianity  forgotten  from  among 
men  :  would  it  not  be  like  striking  out  the  sun  from  the  heavens, 
and  bringing  back  upon  the  earth  tlie  darkness  of  chaos,  and  trans- 
forming the  abode  of  man  into  a  void  and  formless  waste? 

1.  To  estimate  how  much  society  owes  to  the  Bible,  we  must 
estimate  the  value  of  all  those  civil  and  social  institutions,  which 
distinguish  the  most  enlightened  from  the  barbarous  and  semi- 
barbarous  nations  of  the  earth.  To  trace  the  progressive  influence 
of  revelation  in  the  world,  is  to  trace  the  progress  of  civilization. 
Commensurate  with  the  increase  of  the  one,  has  been  the  advance 
of  the  other,  and  the  same  causes  which  have  obstructed  and  hin- 
dered the  former,  have  invariably  retarded  the  latter. 

It  is  believed  by  many,  and  upon  the  ground  of  evidence  which 


52  THE  NECESSITY  OF  A  REVELATION. 

cannot  be  easily  set  aside,  that  it  is  to  revelation,  the  world  owes 
its  knowledge  of  language  and  of  letters.  It  is  at  least  certain  that 
the  literature  of  the  world,  has  in  every  age  received  from  this 
source  its  highest  impulse  and  aid.  It  is  here  alone  that  history, 
carrying  back  her  records  to  the  birth  of  time,  and  across  that 
void,  which  antiquity  had  sought  in  vain  to  fill  up  with  her  fables, 
absurd  and  monstrous,  dates  her  narrative  "  In  the  hegiiming,^^ 
and  leads  it  on  from  thence,  with  a  consistent  chronology,  and  in 
annals  bearing  the  manifest  impress  of  truth,  down  to  the  authen- 
tic monuments  of  an  age,  comparatively  recent,  which  but  for  the 
Bible,  had  been  the  earliest  within  our  knowledge.  Poetry  and  elo- 
quence have  ever  found  their  finest  models  in  the  Scriptures,  and  the 
loftiest  genius  has  not  been  ashamed  to  borrow  its  inspirations  from 
them.  "  It  is  not  undeserved  homage  to  this  sacred  book  to  say  that 
philosophers  and  great  men  of  other  times,  lighted  their  torch  in 
Zion,  and  the  altars  of  learning  caught  their  first  spark  from  the 
flame  that  glowed  within  her  temple."*  Natural  science  has  found 
in  the  Bible  a  key  to  many  of  the  mysteries  of  Creation,  and  in  all 
her  departments,  has  received  from  it  aid,  more  than  she  has  been 
always  willing  to  acknowledge.  In  the  leaf  of  every  plant  and 
flower,  botany  reveals  the  marks  of  creative  wisdom  and  design. 
But  it  may  be  questioned,  if  the  preconceived  attributes  of  God, 
did  not  first  give  direction  to  her  inquiry,  and  guide  to  her  discov- 
eries. The  maxim  that  "Jehovah  has  created  nothing  in  vain," 
we  hold  to  have  been  the  basis  of  all  those  minute  investigations, 
which  have  evolved  from  the  organism  of  insects,  and  animalculae, 
the  same  proofs  of  omnipotent  skill  and  contrivance,  which  appear 
in  the  constitution  of  man,  and  the  creation  of  a  world.  So  also 
on  the  broader  scale  of  a  more  extended  inquiry,  the  knowledge 
of  a  Great  First  Cause,  has  guided  the  labors  and  aided  the  dis- 
coveries of  the  astronomer.  He  has  advanced  with  a  bolder  stride 
through  the  fields  of  space,  and  stretched  his  thoughts  to  the  com- 
pass of  theories  more  extended  and  sublime,  from  a  more  just  con- 
ception of  Almighty  power.  We  verily  believe,  that  the  stupen- 
dous disclosures  of  this  noble  science  would  never  have  been 
attained,  or  if  attained,  would  have  so  overwhelmed  the  mind  by 
their  vastness,  as  to  beget  a  suspicion  of  their  truth,  but  for  the 
previous  knowledge  of  Him 

*  Dr.  Spring.    See  on  this  whole  topic  his  admirable  book,  "  Obligations  of  the 
World  to  the  Bible." 


THE   NECESSITY   OF   A   REVELATION.  53 

"  who  kaJs  Orion  forth 
And  guides  Arcturus  round  the  north." 

It  cannot  be  doubted  that  the  human  mind,  freed  on  the  one  hand, 
from  the  darkness  of  that  superstition,  which  overcast  the  bright- 
est intellects  of  ancient  paganism,  and  exempt  on  the  other,  from 
that  tendency  to  universal  doubt  and  distrust,  which  always  per- 
tains more  or  less  to  skepticism  ;  under  the  genial  light  of  revela- 
tion, and  certified  of  those  great  facts  which  it  contains  ;  acts  with 
a  more  confident  freedom,  springs  to  a  higher  vigor,  and  expands 
to  the  grasp  of  sublimer  truth.  "Why  is  it  that  the  chief  secrets 
of  nature  have  been  penetrated  only  in  Christian  times,  and  in 
Christian  lands,  and  that  men  whose  names  are  first  in  the  roll  on 
which  science  emblazons  her  achievements,  have  been  men  on 
whom  fell  the  rich  light  of  revelation?"  It  is  true,  unbelief  and 
atheism  have  also  had  their  representatives  among  these  illustrious 
names.  But  their  eminence  has  been  attained  under  the  light 
which  they  discarded,  by  tlie  aid  of  its  influence,  and  in  spite  of 
their  errors.  Compare  the  present  advancement  of  science  in  any 
of  its  departments,  with  the  brightest  days  of  oriental  philosophy, 
and  find  a  satisfactory  reason,  if  you  can,  for  that  astonishing  pro- 
gress which  has  marked  the  Christian  era,  especially  in  its  later 
centuries,  other  than  the  influence,  direct  and  indirect,  of  the 
Christian  Scriptures. 

It  would  be  easy  to  trace  this  influence,  also,  in  the  progress  of 
the  useful  and  elegant  arts  ;  in  all  those  contrivances  of  skill  and 
inventions  of  genius,  by  which  the  elements  of  nature,  once  so  for- 
midable as  to  be  deified,  or  so  subtle  as  to  be  deemed  supernatural, 
have  been  subjugated  to  the  necessities,  the  convenience,  and  the 
pleasures  of  men.  But  we  mark  the  influence  of  revelation  more 
distinctly,  in  its  healthful  effects  upon  the  varied  relations  of  life. 
We  owe  to  the  Bible,  all  the  hallowed  associations  and  nameless 
endearments,  that  cluster  round  the  domestic  hearth,  and  impart 
its  magic  power,  to  the  place  we  call  our  home.  It  is  Christianit)' 
which  consecrates  the  union  of  willing  hearts,  in  the  marriage  bond, 
and  pronouncing  its  benediction  upon  their  plighted  vows,  envi- 
rons this  relation  with  those  solemn  sanctions,  which  are  the  safe- 
guards of  virtue,  and  the  barriers  to  the  unlimited  concubinage  of 
lawless  passion.  Under  its  tutelage  parental  instinct  becomes 
"  strong  as  death,"  and  binds  the  mother  to  the  cradle  of  her 
infant  in  all  the  tender  assiduities  of  watching  and  weariness,  by 
a  tie  which  only  grows  and  strengthens  with  each  new  demand 


54  THE  NECESSITY   OF   A   REVELATION. 

upon  her  care  and  toil.  While  the  history  of  pagan  nations,  and 
the  habits  of  licentiousness  engendered  b}'  a  philosophy  which  owns 
no  law  but  desire,  give  us  the  manifold  and  mournful  proofs,  that 
a  mother  may  forget  her  sucking  child  and  cast  it  out,  a  sacrifice 
to  the  demon  of  superstition,  or  to  the  demon  of  lust.  The  Chris- 
tian family  circle,  the  home  of  love  and  piety,  is  itself,  a  triumph  of 
the  gospel, which  proclaims  its  pre-eminence,  even  if  it  had  no 
other. 

But  it  has  also  triumphs  upon  a  larger  scale.  Where  among 
all  contemporary  nations  will  you  find  a  form  of  government, 
which  can  bear  a  comparison  with  the  inspired  and  equitable 
code  of  the  Jewish  theocracy  ?  Study  then  the  subsequent  his- 
tory of  governments,  and  you  will  find,  that  since  the  dawn  of 
the  Christian  era,  wherever  the  principles  of  civil  and  religious 
liberty  have  prevailed,  wherever  public  order  and  personal  safety, 
the  just  authority  of  government,  and  the  highest  immunities 
and  welfare  of  the  governed  have  been  combined,  there  the  in- 
fluence of  the  Bible  has  been  proportionably  felt  and  acknowledged. 
There  have  been  despotisms,  it  is  true,  under  the  name  of  religion, 
but  when  tyranny  puts  on  this  mask,  it  is  always  careful  first,  to 
put  out  the  light.  "  Christianity,"  says  Montesquieu,  "is  a  stranger 
to  despotic  power."  "Religion,"  says  DeTocqueville,  "is  the  com- 
panion of  liberty  in  all  its  battles  and  conflicts,  the  cradle  of  its 
infancy,  and  the  divine  source  of  its  claims."  England  owes  to 
the  Bible  the  great  charter  of  its  liberties.  And  our  own  Republic 
stands  this  day,  unexampled  in  the  history  of  the  world,  simply 
because  it  is  a  land  of  Bibles.  Take  away  the  influence  of  this 
book  from  our  wide-spread  country,  and  how  long  would  it  be, 
under  the  necessary  and  rapid  degeneracy  of  public  morals,  be- 
fore the  decisions  of  the  ballot-box,  would  give  place  to  the  deci- 
sions of  the  sword,  the  prerogatives  of  right  to  the  power  of 
might,  law  to  lust,  government  to  anarchy,  and  anarchy  to 
despotism  ? 

We  may  not  further  pursue  this  train  of  thought,  but  with 
these  suggestions,  we  point  you  to  the  manifest  influence  of  reve- 
*lation  upon  the  literature,  the  learning,  the  arts,  the  domestic  ties, 
and  the  political  relations  of  mankind,  and  pointing  you  at  the 
same  time  to  the  absence  of  this  influence  where  alone  it  is  absent, 
amid  the  darkness  of  heathenism,  we  ask,  if  the  condition  of  man 
without  revelation  is  not,  jf  necessity,  a  condition  of  barbarism  ? 


THE   NECESSITY   OF   A   REVELATION.  55 

2.  But  there  are  still  other  aspects  of  his  coiKlition,  presenting  a 
yet  more  melancholy  picture. 

There  is  in  every  breast  an  abiding  conviction,  which  neither 
the  pleadings    of  sophistry,   nor    the  dominion    of  passion,   can 
wholly  extirpate,  of  an  invisible  almighty  power,  the  disposer  of 
events,  and  the  arbiter  of  destiny.     So  universal  is  this,  that  it 
may  with  some  propriety  be  styled  "  a  sense  of  the  Divine  exist- 
ence."    Man  must  have  a  God,  simply  because  he   cannot  pos- 
sibly prove,  and  he  has  never  been  able,  effectually,  to  persuade 
himself,  that  there  is  none,  though  many  a  "  fool  may  have  said 
it  in  his  heart."     But  if  God  is  revealed  to  us,  only  in  his  works, 
our  utmost  knowledge  of  Him,  can  only  serve  to  awaken  appre- 
hension and  stimulate  our  fears.     In   the  phenomena  of  nature 
there  are  indications  of  wrath  as  well  as  goodness.    In  the  events 
of  life,  there  is  a  succession  and  intensity  of  sorrows,  w^ould  justify 
the  sentiment,  that  "man  was   made   to  mourn."     And  in   the 
presages   and   premonitions    of   conscience    there    is    "  a  fearful 
looking  for,  of  judgment  and  fiery  indignation."     With  no  better 
support  than  the  deductions  of  a  fruitless  and  bewildered  philoso- 
phy, man  is  called,  then,  to  encounter  "  all  the  ills  that  flesh  is 
heir  to."     And  he  must  meet  at  every  turn  of  life,  with  afflictions 
which  he  cannot  explain,  w'ith  sorrows  which  know  no  solace. 
By  a  sudden   calamity,  or  a  succession,  the  garnered  wealth  of 
years  is  swept  away,  and  hope  expires  within  the  breast  of  him 
who  has  neither  the  fortitude  to  endure,  nor  the  ability  to  retrieve 
the  unlooked-for  reversion.     The  grave  closes  upon  the  objects  of 
a  tender  regard,  and  there  is  nothing  to  restrain,  or  to  sweeten, 
the  bitter  tears  of  the  mourner.     Disease  invades  the  frame,  and 
we  cannot  tell,  whence  cometh  sickness,  nor  why.     We  mark  the 
dread  approach  of  Death  by  the  painful  harbingers  of  his  coming, 
but  his  aspect  of  terror  is   unrelieved,  for  even  when  his  skeleton 
hand  is  on  our  brow,  and  the  light  of  life  is  darkening,  we  know 
not,  '  what  is  Death  !'  or  '  what  is  there  beyond  it !'     It  is  a  hard 
blow  to  bear,  when  he  who  yesterday  was  rich,  stands  to-day  amid 
the  wreck  of  a  departed  fortune,  penniless  and  bankrupt.     And 
we  wonder  not  at  that  sullen  gloom  of  disappointment,  sometimes-^ 
deepening   into  despair,   and  seeking  in    suicide   an   end  to  its 
sorrows,  of  those  who  in  a  Christian  land,  are  yet  wanting  in  a 
Christian's  consolation. 

To  the  heart  of  sensibility,  it  is  a  harder  blow,  when  one,  in 
whom  its  life,  and  love,  and  hopes  are  centered,  to  whom  the  very 


56  THE   NECESSITY   OF  A  REVELATION". 

soul  is  knit  by  a  thousand  nameless  ties,  is  torn  from  the  last  em- 
brace, and  hidden  from  the  eyes  forever.  A  man  may  put  on  the 
stoic  then,  and  wrap  about  him  the  frigid  maxims  of  a  cheerless 
philosophy,  but  they  soothe  not  the  anguish  of  a  bleeding  heart. 
Nothing  but  a  voice  from  beyond  the  grave  can  waken,  again,  the 
inspiration  of  hope,  and  whisper  its  throbbings  into  peace.  Read  the 
touching  lament  of  Augustine  for  his  friend,  while  yet  his  darken- 
ed soul  was  moving  in  a  heathen  element,  and  you  will  under- 
stand what  an  apostle  means  by  "  sorrowing  without  hope."  "  At 
this  grief,"  he  says,  "  my  heart  was  utterly  darkened  ;  and  what- 
ever I  beheld  was  death.  Mine  eyes  sought  him  everywhere,  but 
he  was  not  granted  them,  and  I  hated  all  places,  for  that  they 
had  him  not.  I  became  a  great  riddle  to  myself,  and  I  asked  my 
soul,  why  she  was  so  sad,  and  why  she  disquieted  me  sorely  ; 
but  she  knew  not  what  to  answer  me.  If  I  said,  '  tnist  in  Godi' 
she  very  rightly  obeyed  me  not ;  because  that  most  dear  friend, 
whom  she  had  lost  was,  being  man,  both  truer  and  better,  than 
that  phantasm  she  was  bid  to  trust  in.  Only  tears  were  sweet  to 
me,  for  they  succeeded  my  friend,  in  the  dearest  of  my  affections." 
But  there  is  a  grief  too  great  for  tears,  and  if  you  take  away  the 
light  which  Revelation  sheds  upon  the  tomb,  and  then  are  called 
to  stand  upon  its  brink,  and  hear  the  rumbling  earth  as  it  falls 
upon  the  coffined  dust  of  the  loved  and  lost,  if  your  heart  has 
ever  swollen  with  a  true  emotion,  you  will  know,  what  is  that 
greater  grief. 

To  you,  young  gentlemen,  in  the  morning  freshness  of  your 
day,  and  witli  your  sky  as  yet,  perhaps,  unclouded,  these  con- 
siderations may  seem  to  have  but  little  urgency.  But,  mark  it ! 
you  will  not  have  travelled  far  in  the  appointed  pilgrimage  of  life, 
before  you  will  both  find  and  feel  that  life  is  not  that  bright  and 
sunny  scene  which  youthful  hopes  had  pictured  it.  It  has  its 
shadows,  too,  deep  and  sombre  shadows.  It  has  its  sorrows, 
which  Heaven  alone  can  heal.  Man's  devious  pathway  to  the 
grave  is,  full  often,  a  ^^via  dolorosa,"  in  which  he  needs  a  com- 
forter, as  well  as  guide.  You  may  destroy  his  sensibilities,  and, 
as  he  approximates  the  brute,  he  will  cease  to  feel.  You  may 
dethrone  his  reason,  and,  in  the  delirium  of  passion,  he  will 
laugh  away  his  cares.  Thus,  without  the  Bible,  he  may  stumble 
on  through  life  in  stern  and  sullen  gloom,  or,  insensate  and  reck- 
less, stifling  his  nature,  and  forswearing  humanity,  he  may  bound 
along,  as  gaily  and  as  madly  as  e'er  a  gibbering  maniac  among 


.  THE  NECESSITY   OF   A   REVELATION.  57 

the  tombs  ;  but,  as  a  rational  and  sentient  being,  without  the 
Bible,  he  can  only  tread  his  sad  and  tearful  way  bewildered  and 
desponding. 

But  grave  or  gay,  reckless  or  thoughtful,  it  is  a  brief  pilgrimage 
at  best,  and  life's  battle,  or  its  ballet,  ends  in  the  strife  of  death. 
Under  whatever  aspect  we  n^ay  view  it,  this  inevitable  event  is 
the  most  momentous  in  the  history  of  man.  Be  it  so, — that  physi- 
cally it  is  but  "  the  turning  of  a  few  ounces  of  blood  into  a  dif- 
ferent channel,"  and  thereafter  an  eternal  sleep ; — yet  who  that 
knows  the  boon  of  being,  recoils  not  from  the  thought  of  that 
being's  end,  as  the  incomparable  calamity  ?  There  is  a  greater, 
we  do  allow,  and  it  is  only  the  guilty  fear  of  this  could  ever  have 
fathered  the  wish,  or  endured  the  thought,  of  the  soul's  annihila- 
tion. And  yet  that  thought,  that  wish,  can  never  so  possess  the 
mind  as  to  exterminate  that  fear.  Tell  us  not  of  death-scenes, 
calm  and  peaceful  as  the  Christian's  dying  hour,  where  no  Chris- 
tian's hope  was  known.  Is  it  the  untutored  savage  upon  his 
couch  of  turf,  who  dreams  of  happier  hunting  grounds?  If  you 
could  yourself  become  a  savage,  ignorant  as  he,  like  him  you 
might  also  die  the  victim  of  a  fond  delusion.  It  avails  no  more  to 
plead  the  few  examples  of  classic  story,  except  you  can  also  rein- 
state the  Olympian  gods,  and  make  to  youuself  a  gospel  of  Charon 
and  his  boat.  And  as  for  the  boasted  instances  of  modern  philo- 
sophic calmness,  we  aver,  that,  upon  the  principles  of  Deism 
itself,  it  can  be  shown  that  such  calmness,  if  it  is  real,  is  a  treason 
against  nature,  and  an  outrage  upon  right  reason.  If  Natural 
Theology  cannot  demonstrate  that  there  is  a  hereafter,  much  less 
can  she  demonstrate  that  there  is  none.  Under  a  dread  uncer- 
tainty of  a  future  state,  coupled  with  a  conscious  guilt,  which,  in 
the  prospect  and  probability  of  retribution,  deepens  into  remorse, 
tell  me  then,  ought  man  to  be  calm,  in  this  dire  necessity  of  his 
nature?  Only  an  authentic  voice,  from  the  eternal  throne,  can 
possibly  give  him  the  assurance,  that  with  the  destruction  of  the 
body,  his  being  ceases,  or  that,  continuing  to  exist,  his  existence 
shall  not  be  one  of  suffering.  But  nature  has  no  such  voice,  and 
all  her  utterances,  fairly  interpreted,  contradict  the  hope.  To  die . 
without  the  light  of  revelation,  is  to  take  a  fearful  leap  into  an 
abyss  of  darkness,'and  on  the  brink,  conscience,  like  an  avenging 
spirit,  points  to  a  thousand  evil  omens,  in  the  spectral  array  of 
long-forgotten  sins,  and  cries  in  the  dying  sinner's  ear,  "  'Tis  an 
abyss  of  woe !" 


58  THE  NECESSITY   OF  A   REVELATION.    . 

If,  then,  with  respect  to  his  civil  and  social  relations,  man's  con- 
dition without  the  Bible  is  a  condition  of  barbarism,  no  less,  with 
respect  to  his  personal  spiritual  interests,  is  it  a  condition  of 
unmitigated,  hopeless  misery.  On  the  supposition  which  we 
have  considered,  if  we  conclude  not  that  this  is  a  God-forsaken 
world,  it  must  be  because  there  are  in  it  the  manifest  tokens  of 
Divine  displeasure.  Man  struts  his  little  hour  upon  its  surface, 
ignorant  alike  of  his  origin  and  his  destiny.  Doubtful  and 
desponding,  he  reaches  the  goal  of  mortal  life,  pressed  down  by 
present  sorrow,  and  yet  shrinking  and  aghast  at  the  thought  of 
'•  greater  ills  he  knows  not  of."  He  dies  !  scarce  knowing 
whether  he  should  most  desire  a  conscious  immortality,  or  an 
eternal  sleep  !  The  grave  closes  upon  him,  but  no  promised  resur- 
rection consecrates  his  dust,  no  words  of  hope  are  written  on  his 
tomb ! 


* 


i 


7  Z^7^  «• 


« 


According  to  the  evangelical  records,  Jesus  Christ  appealed  to 
his  miracles  as  evidences  of  his  Divine  mission.  (John  v.  36.) 
His  apostles  made  the  same  appeal.  (Acts  ii.  22 ;  Heb.  ii.  4.) 
They  did  not  require  men  to  beheve  the  gospel  on  the  bare  word 
of  its  preachers.  They  founded  its  claim  to  a  Divine  origin  on 
tlie  attestation  of  God,  as  given  in  the  mighty  signs  and  wonders 
which  he  exhibited,  first  by  the  agency  of  the  Great  Founder,  and 
then  by  the  instrumentality  of  the  twelve  apostolical  witnesses, 
who  were  commissioned  to  pubhsh  the  gospel  among  all  nations. 

Without  some  miraculous  token  of  the  Divine  sanction,  no  sys- 
tem of  religion  can  present  infallible  evidence  of  its  being  a  revela- 
tion from  God. 

Men  may  publish  doctrines  that  are  sublime,  pure,  benevolent, 
and  fully  approved  by  the  reason  and  conscience  of  mankind  ;  yet, 
however  they  may  appear  worthy  to  have  emanated  from  heaven, 
they  may  still  be  the  product  of  merely  human  wisdom.  What- 
ever the  human  mind  is  capable  of  receiving  by  revelation  from 
God,  it  may  also  by  possibility  originate  by  the  exercise  of  its  own 
powers.  Divine  revelation,  though  flowing  from  an  infinite  source, 
is  necessarily  limited  to  the  capacity  of  the  recipient.  In  God  and 
in  his  works,  are  depths  of  wisdom,  reaching  infinitely  beyond  all 
the  profundities  of  human  thought.  The  human  mind  seems 
indeed  to  have  an  indefinite  range  of  thought  ;  it  can  form  com- 
binations innumerable  of  those  elements  of  thought,  which  it  de- 
rives from  sense  and  reason.  But  it  can  form  no  conception  of  any- 
thing beyond  the  informations  of  sense  and  the  suggestions  of  rea- 
son. Therefore  while  human  nature  remains  unchanged,  the 
Spirit  of  God  can  reveal  nothing  to  the  spirit  of  man,  but  what  is 
already  within  the  natural  range  of  human  conception,  and 
intrinsically  undistinguishable  from  the  natural  products  of  the 
mind.  Many  a  poor  enthusiast  has  mistaken  the  ardor  of  his  feel- 
ings and  the  vividness  of  his  conceptions  for  the  inspirations  of  God. 
Without  an  external  sign  from  God  no  man  can  certainly  distin- 


62  MIRACLES,    AS   AN   EVIDENCE   OF   CHRISTIANITY. 

guish  a  Divine  revelation  from  what  is  purely  human ;  for  reve- 
lation is  necessarily  so  humanized  in  passing  through  a  human 
medium,  that  nothing  indicating  its  Divine  origin  remains  dis- 
tinctly impressed  upon  it.  As  external  evidence  is  necessary  to 
distinguish  genuine  history  from  ingeniously  wrought  fictions,  so 
without  the  criterion  of  miracles  we  might  confound  the  revela- 
tions of  the  Holy  Spirit  with  the  dreams  of  the  enthusiast  and  the 
inventions  of  the  impostor. 

But  when  God  connects  miraculous  demonstrations  with  the 
doctrines  of  inspired  men,  we  know  that  the  teachers  speak  by  his 
authority ;  for  whilst  we  know  that  men  can  originate  whatever 
doctrines  men  can  understand,  we  know  also  that  no  man  can 
work  a  miracle,  unless  God  be  with  him. 

My  subject  is  miracles,  their  nature,  their  susceptibility  of  proof, 
and  the  evidence  which  they  afford  of  the  Divine  origin  of  Chris- 
tianity. 

I  shall  first  discuss  the  theory  of  miracles  in  general,  and  sec- 
ondly, the  miracles  of  Jesus  in  particular,  considered  as  an  evidence 
of  his  Divine  mission. 

I.  The  general  theory  of  miracles  comprehends  two  points  of 
inquiry,— 1st.  What  is  a  miracle  ?  and  2d.  Can  the  occurrence  of 
a  miracle,  if  it  should  take  place,  be  proved  by  the  testimony  of 
men? 

First,  then, — What  is  a  miracle?  Various  definitions  have  been 
given.  A  miracle  is  a  suspension  or  violation  of  the  law  of  nature. 
It  is  a  supernatural  event :  It  is  a  deviation  from  the  course  of 
nature,  &c.  Any  of  these  definitions  with  a  little  explanation  will 
answer.  But  I  will  offer  another  which  is  more  explicit.  A  mira- 
cle is  a  sign,ohvious  to  the  senses,  that  God  has  interposed  his 
poiver  to  control  the  established  course  of  nature. 

The  novelty  of  an  event  does  not  make  it  miraculous  ;  else 
every  new  discovery  in  natural  science  w'ould  be  a  miracle.  Nor 
is  an  event  which  is  simply  unaccountable,  to  be  esteemed  mirac- 
ulous. Unaccountable  events  sometimes  occur,  such  as  the  fall 
of  meteoric  stones,  which  come  hissing,  glowing,  and  exploding, 
from  the  upper  regions  of  the  atmosphere.  All  that  w'e  can  say 
of  them,  is,  that  we  know  not  whence  they  come,  nor  how  they 
originate.  But  for  aught  that  we  know,  they  may  be  the  product 
of  natural  causes. 

It  should  be  observed  that  our  knowledge  of  the  laws  of  nature, 
and  of  their  various  complicated  W'Orkings,  is  very  partial  and 


MIEACLES,    AS   AN   EVIDENCE   OF   CHRISTIANITY.  63 

defective.  Wc  see  many  effects  of  which  the  causes  are  hidden. 
If  they  are  such  as  frequently  occur,  we  reasonably  infer  from  their 
frequency,  that  they  spring  from  natural  causes.  Even  when  the 
event  is  extraordinary  in  its  nature  and  of  rare  occurrence,  we 
may  still  judge  from  circumstances,  that  it  is  merely  the  effect  of  a 
rare  combination  of  natural  causes,  like  the  connection  between  the 
Siamese  twins.  The  rarity  of  an  event  may  also  be  accounted  for 
sometimes  by  the  regularity  of  nature  in  her  courses,  producing 
only  once  in  a  long  time  the  most  striking  coincidences.  Thus 
the  planets  vary  their  aspects  in  the  heavens  continually; — age 
after  age  they  pursue  their  mazy  dance  through  the  zodiac,  pre- 
senting innumerable  figures  to  the  astronomer's  eye  ;  until  at  last 
they  all  meet  together  in  a  splendid  group,  a  wonder  to  human 
eyes  ;  then  they  begin  their  grand  cycle  again ;  to  meet  once  more 
perhaps  long  after  the  generations  of  mankind  shall  have  passed 
away.  In  this  case  we  know  that  the  event  proceeds  from  the 
regular  movements  of  nature:  but  why  may  not  equally  rare  phe- 
nomena, result  from  a  secret  concatenation  of  natural  causes, 
stretching  back  to  the  creation  of  the  world  ? 

Phenomena  purely  mental  or  spiritual  cannot  be  demonstrably 
miraculous,  although  they  may  be  such  in  reality.  We  under- 
stand too  little  of  the  nature  of  spirit  and  of  the  action  of  spirit  upon 
spirit  to  distinguish  the  natural  from  the  supernatural  in  spiritual 
agency.  We  cannot  trace  the  various  phases  of  human  madness 
to  their  causes :  how  then  can  we  determine  what  is  or  is  not 
according  to  nature  in  the  deeper  mysteries  of  the  spiritual 
world  ? 

A  miracle,  to  be  cognizable  by  mortal  man,  must  appear  within 
this  "visible  diurnal  sphere,"  in  which  he  is  an  agent  and  a  look- 
er-on, from  the  cradle  to  the  grave.  Here  he  learns  by  his  own 
experience  and  that  of  the  generations  before  him,  what  are  the 
constitution  and  laws  of  nature,  what  is  the  orderly  course  of 
events,  what  are  the  causes  of  many  things,  and  what  is  within 
the  power  of  those  living  agents  that  God  has  created  upon  the 
earth.  All  his  experience  of  external  things  is  gained  through  the 
medium  of  the  senses,  and  the  objects  of  sense  are  those  with 
which  he  is  best  acquainted.  Here  then  is  the  field  within  which 
he  can  distinguish  between  the  natural  and  the  supernatural. 
Here,  if  anywhere,  will  God  give  him  signs  from  heaven,  by  which 
the  revelations  of  God  may  be  distinguished  from  the  wisdom  of 


64  MIRACLES,    AS  AN  EVIDENCE   OF   CHRISTIANITY. 

the  philosopher,  the  dreams  of  the  enthusiast,  and  the  impostures 
of  the  false  prophet. 

But  there  are  false  miracles  as  well  as  false  prophets, — delusive 
appearances  by  which  the  credulous  are  often  deceived.  Hence 
the  necessity  of  an  infallible  criterion  by  which  the  miracles  of 
God  may  be  distinguished  from  the  impositions  of  man. 

As  we  derive  all  our  knowledge  of  external  things  from  the 
senses,  so  we  must  hold  that  our  senses  give  infallible  evidence  of 
what  they  perceive.  Jugglers  and  false  prophets  may  elude  our 
senses  and  impose  on  our  understandings  ;  but  they  can  do  it  only 
on  the  supposition  that  we  see  what  we  see  and  hear  what  we  hear. 
They  deceive  us  by  what  they  conceal,  not  by  what  they  exhibit. 
If  we  could  perceive  by  our  senses  all  that  was  done,  the  deception 
would  be  at  an  end  and  the  wonder  would  disappear.  But  be- 
cause our  understandings  are  liable  to  delusion,  when  objects  are 
but  partially  and  indistinctly  apprehended  by  the  senses  ;  nothing 
should  be  construed  as  a  miracle,  but  what  is  in  the  first  place 
definitely,  distinctly,  and  evidently  perceived  by  the  senses, — in 
the  second  place,  clear  and  intelligible  to  the  understanding  ; — and 
in  the  third  place,  manifestly  inconsistent  with  the  established 
order  of  nature  ;  and  therefore  impossible  to  be  accounted  for  with- 
out supposing  that  God  has  interposed  to  control  the  law  of 
nature. 

When  we  consider  that  a  real  miracle  is  a  sign  which  God  ex- 
hibits of  his  power  to  control  the  laws  of  nature,  we  cannot  doubt 
that  every  real  miracle  will  have  in  it  a  dignity  and  a  character 
befitting  its  sublime  and  glorious  author.  God  can  never  descend 
to  play  the  petty  tricks  of  a  juggler,  or  to  employ  his  miraculous 
power  for  so  low  an  end  as  to  puzzle  the  understanding  or  to  ex- 
cite idle  wonder  in  his  creature  man  :  nor  would  he  endow  a  human 
being  with  supernatural  power  for  any  base  or  trifling  end.  Hence 
a  miracle  must  not  be  in  the  power  of  a  man  to  produce  at  will,  or 
by  the  use  of  means.  It  must  not  come  by  magical  incantations, 
nor  by  mesmeric  "  passes,"  nor  by  questions  to  be  answered  by 
"  spiritual  rappings."  It  must  not  submit  to  be  sold  by  perambu- 
lating lecturers  at  so  much  a  ticket.  It  must  be  nothing  ridicu 
lous  or  fantastic,  nothing  like  the  petty  tricks  usually  ascribed  to 
the  devil,  because  the  puzzled  spectators  know  not  to  what  else 
they  should  ascribe  them.  It  must  not  be  an  unmeaning  sign,  an 
insignificant  display  of  supernatural  power,  teaching  nothing  but 
the  fact,  which  is  better  taught  by  nature  in  her  regular  move- 


MIRACLES,    AS   AN   EVIDENCE   OF   CHRISTIANITY.  Qo 

ments,  that  there  is  a  God.  Do  not  the  heavens  and  the  eartii 
evidently  show  the  handiwork  of  their  Creator?  Is  not  nature 
herself  the  greatest  of  all  miracles?  When  God  makes  nature 
deviate  from  her  prescribed  course,  it  must  be  for  a  special  sign  of 
some  extraordinary  communication  from  himself. 

Again,  if  a  miracle  be  supernatural ;  if  it  imply  a  suspension  of 
some  known  law  of  nature  : — then  I  hold  that  no  created  agent 
can  by  his  own  power  work  a  miracle.  No  angel  nor  demon,  how- 
ever "great  in  might,"  can  break  the  order  of  nature,  or  disturb 
the  operation  of  those  physical  laws  by  which  the  creation  is  regu- 
lated and  preserved.  God  has  so  constituted  the  system  of  nature, 
and  so  regulated  its  operations,  that  the  whole  is  a  glorious  mani- 
festation of  his  supreme  power,  wisdom  and  goodness.  Were  he  to 
subject  any  part  of  this  magnificent  and  well-ordered  system  to  the 
discretionary  control  of  any  created  being,  then  nature  would  cease 
to  be  altogether  an  expression  of  his  Divine  attributes  ;  the  work- 
ings of  her  infinitely  complex  machinery,  would  be  no  longer  under 
his  exclusive  control ;  some  of  his  own  creatures  would  share  with 
him  the  sovereignty  ;  the  inferior  creatures,  such  as  man,  would  be 
in  some  measure  dependent  on  subordinate  rulers  of  the  world,  who 
would  justly  be  feared  as  gods,  and  the  ancient  system  of  heathen- 
ish idolatry  would  be  founded  on  fact. 

But  can  we  believe  that  the  Author  of  nature  would  subject 
any  part  of  the  system  to  the  will  of  a  creature,  who  is  himself 
but  a  part  of  the  same  system,  and,  consequently,  subject  to  its 
laws  ?  He  has  endowed  created  agents  with  faculties  greater  or 
less  ;  but  these  are  themselves  subordinate  to  the  preordained 
laws  of  nature.  Rational  beings  may  violate  the  moral  law  ;  but 
so  much  the  more  necessary  is  it,  that  they  should  be  strictly 
subjected  to  those  physical  laws,  by  which  God  maintains  his 
sovereignty  over  nature. 

I  argue  also  from  analogy  against  the  opinion  that  any  created 
being  can,  by  his  own  power,  work  a  miracle.  We  know  that 
man  has  vastly  more  power,  both  mental  and  corporeal,  than  the 
worm  which  he  treads  under  his  feet.  His  understanding  is  com- 
paratively infinite,  his  strength  ten  thousand  fold  greater,  yet  is 
he  as  absolutely  subject  to  the  laws  of  nature  as  the  worm  in  the 
dust,  or  the  animalcule,  whose  life-time  is  a  day,  and  whose 
world  is  a  drop  of  water.  He  can  devise  and  construct  machines, 
of  which  the  poor  worm  can  form  no  conception,  but  for  the  eflfect 
of  these,  and  all  his  other  operations,  he  is  entirely  dependent  on 

5 


GQ  MIRACLES,    AS   AN   EVIDENCE   OF   CHRISTIANITY. 

the  laws  of  nature.  What  these  enable  him  to  do,  he  can  do  ; 
but,  contrary  to  these,  he  can  do  absolutely  nothing  at  ail.  He 
cannot  make  a  hair  of  his  head  either  white  or  black, — he  cannot 
m.ake  a  grain  of  sand  either  heavier  or  lighter, — he  cannot  make 
a  thorn-bush  bear  grapes,  nor  reanimate  the  dead  body  of  a  tiy. 
Suppose  his  wisdom  and  his  physical  strength  to  be  increased  a 
thousand  fold  ;  will  he  then  be  able  to  do  any  of  these  things  ? 
Will  he  then  have  advanced  a  single  step  towards  a  sovereign 
power  over  the  Jaws  of  nature?  No  ;  nor  is  the  mightiest  demon 
in  the  universe  any  more  able  to  control  a  law  of  nature,  than  a 
Solomon  or  a  Samson, — a  worm  or  an  animalcule.  The  power 
that  can  work  a  miracle  must  diifer,  not  only  in  degree,  but  in 
kind,  from  that  of  created  beings.  It  is  a  creative  power.  A  man 
may  kill  his  brother  man,  because  the  law  of  nature  gives  him 
the  power  ;  but  when  he  has  killed,  neither  he  nor  all  the  hosts 
of  heaven  and  hell  can  restore  that  dead  man  to  life.  Only  the 
God  that  made  him  can  raise  him  from  the  dead. 

I  conclude,  therefore,  that  every  miracle,  every  manifestation 
of  a  power  superior  to  the  law  of  nature,  is  a  sign  from  God,  that 
he  has,  for  some  important  and  holy  end,  seen  fit  to  interrupt  the 
established  course  of  nature. 

I  proceed  to  the  second  inquiry  under  this  head,  which  is, — 
Are  tnb'acles  susceptible  of  proof  hy  testimony  7  In  other 
words.  Can  we  in  any  case  reasonably  believe  men,  who  testify 
that  they  have  ivitnessed  a  miraculous  event! 

A  miracle  must,  from  its  nature,  be  a  highly  improbable  event. 
It  is  an  exception  to  the  uniform  rule  of  nature ;  a  partial  de- 
rangement in  the  long-estabUshed  working  of  this  great  machine, 
the  universe. 

One  of  the  earliest  lessons  that  experience  teaches  mankind,  is 
the  uniformity  of  nature.  Our  belief  in  this  uniformity  seems  to 
be  constitutional,  and  to  be  developed  immediately  after  experi- 
ence begins.  The  burnt  child  dreads  the  fire.  He  believes  from 
one  experiment  that  it  is  the  nature  of  fire  to  burn.  So  his 
instinct  teaches  him  to  reason  about  nature  in  general.  Experi- 
ence in  general  confirms  our  first  conclusions  respecting  the 
established  relation  between  causes  and  effects.  God  has  wisely 
ordained  that  things  should  be  distinguishable  by  their  permanent 
properties,  and  that  the  course  of  events  should  depend  upon 
established  relations  between  antecedents  and  consequents,  causes 
.and  effects.     Without  steadfastness  in  the  course  of  nature,  human 


J 


MIRACLES,    AS   -IX   EVIDENCE   OF   CHRISTI IXITY.  67 

reason  could  have  no  guide,  human  sciences  and  aits  could  not 
exi.-t,  neither  instinct  nor  intelligence  could  avail  the  creatures  of 
God.  and  nature  herself  would  have  no  voice  to  proclaim  her 
Divine  original. 

In  a  disordered  universe,  there  could  be  no  miracle,  because 
there  would  be  no  law  of  nature  by  which  reason  could  distin- 
guish the  natural  from  the  supernatural.  If  the  Deity  often 
changed  the  course  of  nature,  the  laws  of  nature  would  be  weak- 
ened ;  and  the  course  of  events  being  unsteady,  the  signs  of  God 
would  be  less  manifest,  both  in  the  regularity  of  nature  and  in 
her  deviations.  As  miracles  more  frequently  occurred,  the  less 
miraculous  would  they  appear.  They  would  come  to  resemble 
the  jarrings  of  an  ill-constructed  machine,  and  would  be  expected 
as  things  of  course. 

Miracles,  therefore,  to  answer  any  useful  purpose  in  the  moral 
government  of  God,  must  necessarily  be  reserved  for  rare  and 
important  occasions.  But  for  the  very  reason  that  they  must  be 
the  most  rare  and  extraordinary  of  all  events,  they  are  in  them- 
selves the  most  improbable,  and  require  the  strongest  evidence  to 
render  them  credible. 

Besides  the  intrinsic  improbability  of  miracles,  the  frequency  of 
false  reports  of  supernatural  events,  and  the  ingenious  methods 
by  which  impostors  often  delude  credulous  people,  should  make 
us  particularly  cautious  how  we  give  credence  to  any  report  or 
any  appearance  of  a  miracle.  So  improbable  an  event  should  not 
gain  our  belief,  until  we  have  carefully  scrutinized  both  the 
nature  of  the  fact  reported  and  the  evidence  of  its  occurrence. 

But  reported  miracles  are  not  all  equally  improbable.  The 
degree  of  their  antecedent  improbability  depends  on  the  nature, 
circumstances,  and  relations  of  the  event.  Though  all  miracles 
are  equally  impossible  with  man  and  equally  possible  with  God, 
ihey  are  not  equally  improbable  in  themselves.  Reason  teaches 
us  to  expect  that  if  God  work  a  miracle,  he  will  not  on  the  one 
hand  make  it  so  portentously  great  as  to  derange  the  general 
course  of  nature,  nor  on  the  other  hand  so  contemptibly  small  as 
to  excite  ridicule.  He  would  not  summon  the  thunders  of  heaven 
to  kill  a  fly.  Whilst  he  made  the  miraculous  nature  of  the  event 
sufficiently  evident,  he  would  also  make  it  correspond  in  moral 
significancy  with  the  occasion  on  which  it  was  introduced  ;  making 
it  a  miracle  of  benevolence,  when  it  was  designed  to  authenticate 
a  mission  of  mercy,  and  perhaps  a  miracle  of  punishment,  when 


68  MIRACLES,    AS   .AJST   EVIDENCE   OF   CHRISTIANITY. 

it  was  designed  to  enforce  the  authority  of  a  violated  law.  T 
deem  it  reasonable  to  assume  that  God  would  not  turn  nature 
out  of  her  regular  course  without  some  moral  necessity,  nor  exhibit 
a  sign  that  was  incongruous  to  the  occasion.  Much  less  would 
he  affix  his  signature  to  anything  that  was  revolting  to  the  rea- 
son and  the  moral  sense  which  he  implanted  in  the  human 
breast.  How  absurd  is  it  to  imagine  that  he  would  sanction  by 
miracles  the  scheme  of  a  wicked  man,  the  vagaries  of  a  fool,  or 
the  visions  of  a  half-crazy  fanatic !  Or  is  it  credible  that  God 
Almighty  would  be  so  lavish  of  his  miraculous  signs,  as  to 
employ  them  for  the  establishment  of  relic-worship  and  transub- 
stantiation  1 

But  when  the  reported  miracles  appear  to  have  been  morally 
necessary  for  the  establishment  of  some  great  and  salutary  truth, 
and  when  they  are  in  themselves,  their  circumstances  and  their 
human  agents,  altogether  worthy  of  their  Divine  Author  ;  then  I 
tliink  that  in  the  opinion  of  all  candid  men,  they  are  not  so  im- 
probable, as  to  put  their  proof  beyond  the  reach  of  human  testi- 
mony. 

Consider,  friends,  what  the  consequences  would  be,  if  God  had 
so  constituted  the  nature  of  things  as  to  make  it  impossible  to 
prove  a  miracle  by  the  testimony  of  eye-witnesses.  In  this  case 
the  Father  of  mankind  would  have  forever  precluded  himself 
from  making  a  supernatural  revelation  of  his  will.  In  my  intro- 
ductory remarks  I  showed  that  miracles  are  the  only  reliable  test 
of  Divine  revelation.  I  have  also  shown  that  frequency  of  mira- 
cles would  detract  from  their  efficacy  as  signs  of  God.  But  how 
exceedingly  common  and  how  apparently  natural  would  they 
become,  if  they  were  exhibited  to  all  mankind  as  evidence  of  a 
Divine  revelation  !  I  have  not  the  presumption  to  say  absolutely 
that  God  could  not  prove  a  revelation  to  mankind,  by  working 
miracles  before  the  eyes  of  all  in  every  age.  But  I  can  say  with- 
out presumption  that  such  a  method  would  bear  no  analogy  to 
the  general  system  of  Divine  government.  It  is  true  that  God 
has  written  the  signs  of  his  existence  and  perfections  over  the 
whole  face  of  nature,  and  displayed  them  to  the  eyes  of  all  man- 
kind ;  yet  how  few  are  able  of  themselves  to  give  them  the  right 
interpretation  !  How  generally  did  mankind,  with  the  heavens 
and  the  earth  in  view,  fail  to  discover  the  One  Only  Living  and 
True  God,  and  in  their  blindness  worship  imaginary  gods  and 
dumb  idols !     Is  it  probable,   that  they  would    have    succeeded 


\ 


MIRACLES,    AS   AN   EVIDENCE   OF   CHRISTIANITY.  69 

better  in  the  interj)ietation  of  a  universal  system  of  miracles  in 
proof  of  a  revelation  from  God  ?  A  French  atheist*  once  de- 
manded, why,  if  there  be  a  God,  he  did  not  give  a  proof  of  his  ex- 
istence, by  so  arranging  the  stars  in  the  form  of  letters,  that  they 
should  spell  his  name  !  But  the  poor  fool  did  not  say,  in  what 
language  God  would  write  his  name  in  the  heavens  more  intelli- 
gibly than  he  has  already  done.  Without  discussing  this  point 
farther,  it  is  sufficient  to  say  that  God  has  made  the  mass  of  man- 
kind dependent  on  testimony  and  on  the  instruction  of  qualified 
teachers,  for  nearly  all  their  knowledge  ;  and  we  may  presume 
that  this  is  on  the  whole  the  wisest  and  best  way  in  which  the 
knowledge  of  revelation  could  be  imparted  to  the  Imman  race.  In 
this  way,  it  would  be  impossible  for  God  to  verify  a  system  of  re- 
vealed truth,  unless  he  made  miracles  capable  of  proof  by  testi- 
mony. 

And  consider  whether  there  be  not  questions  of  the  utmost  im- 
portance, which  men  cannot  solve  by  the  light  of  nature,  but 
which  our  Father  in  Heaven  might  be  disposed  to  solve  by  reve- 
lation ;  such  questions  as  these,  for  example.  Are  our  souls  im- 
mortal ?  Shall  we  be  rewarded  and  punished  in  a  future  state 
for  the  deeds  done  in  the  present  life  ?  Will  God  forgive  us  our 
sins  ;  and  if  so,  on  what  conditions  ?  These  are  questions  on 
which  human  destiny  hangs,  on  which  human  laws  and  morals 
depend  for  their  principal  sanctions,  and  human  society  for  its 
improvement  from  age  to  age.  Without  faith  founded  on  a 
Divine  revelation  of  future  rewards  and  punishments,  and  of 
pardon  for  sin  on  the  conditions  of  repentance  and  atonement, 
the  motives  to  virtue  and  amendment  of  life  would  be  defective. 
Without  a  revealed  religion,  the  generations  of  men  must  ever 
wander  in  the  mazes  of  error  and  superstition,  or  cast  off  the 
shackles  of  false  religion  only  to  run  into  the  licentiousness  of 
practical  atheism. 

Without  a  revelation  from  God  there  can  be  no  assurance  of 
immortal  life,  of  retributions  after  death,  of  Divine  forgiveness  of 
sins,  of  grace,  to  help  us  in  our  time  of  need,  or  of  a  Heavenly 
Father's  watchfulness  and  care  over  the  helpless  children  of  mor- 
tality. Human  philosophy  cannot  unveil  the  secrets  of  death  ; 
reason  has  invented  a  telescope  that  can  penetrate  the  starry 
skies ;    but  wherewith  shall  the    soul  of  the  living  pierce    the 

*  Mirabeaud,  in  his  Systems  de  la  Nature. 


70  MIEACLES,    AS   AN   EVIDENCE   OF   CHRISTIANITY. 

"  shadows,  clouds,  ajid  darkness,"  that  rest  upon  the  eternal  state 
of  man  ?  • 

For  all  that  man  needs  to  know  respecting  the  material  world 
and  the  common  affairs  of  life,  nature  and  reason  are  sufficient 
teachers ;  but  if  this  world  be  only  the  cradle  of  the  soul,  or  at  the 
most  its  infant-school — and  if  for  its  better  training  here,  and  its 
happier  state  hereafter,  it  needs  a  spiritual  instruction  which  na- 
ture and  experience  cannot  give — then  surely  it  is  not  impossible, 
nor  so  very  improbable,  that  the  Parent  of  mankind  should  send 
us  a  message  of  instruction,  adapted  to  our  wants,  and  accom- 
panied by  visible  signs  of  its  heavenly  origin. 

Now,  supposing  that  we  should  hear  of  a  teacher  who  professed 
to  be  a  messenger  from  heaven,  who  taught  a  religion,  solving 
the  great  questions  before  mentioned,  and  embracing  a  pure  and 
benevolent  code  of  morals — a  teacher  whose  personal  character 
was  every  way  befitting  his  profession,  and  who  wrought  mira- 
cles of  mercy  and  goodness  in  proof  of  his  mission — I  ask,  would 
such  a  report,  taken  altogether,  be  so  utterly  incredible,  that  no 
sort  or  amount  of  testimony  could  make  it  worthy  of  credit? 
May  I  not  appeal  to  the  common  sense  of  every  one  who  hears 
nie-to  bear  me  out  in  the  assertion,  that  such  a  report  might  be 
verified  to  the  satisfaction  of  any  reasonable  man  by  the  testi- 
mony of  witnesses  ?  The  reported  miracles,  taken  in  connection 
with  the  other  reported  facts,  could  not  be  so  improbable  as  to 
make  all  possible  testimony  in  their  favor  unworthy  of  belief. 

But  the  celebrated  historian  and  philosoph.8r  David  Hume  at- 
tempted to  frame  an  argument  against  miracles,  which  he  fancied 
would  overthrow  all  faith  in  revealed  religion,  by  showing  that 
human  testimony  could  not  in  any  case  afford  proof  of  a  miracu- 
lous event.  This  argument,  invented  by  a  skeptical  philosopher, 
fond  of  paradox,  has  received  more  attention  than  it  deserves ; 
but  as  it  is  ingeniously  framed,  and  contains  all  that  can  be  said 
against  the  credibility  of  reported  miracles,  I  shall  give  you  the 
sum  and  substance  of  the  argument  in  his  own  words,  and  then 
point  out  the  fallacies  interwoven  with  it,  and  demonstrate  the 
sufficiency  of  human  testimony  to  prove  any  fact,  however  im- 
probable. 

"  Experience  (says  Hume)  is  our  only  guide  in  reasoning." 
"  A  wise  man  weighs  the  evidence  ;  he  considers  which  side  is 
supported  by  the  greater  number  of  experiments  ;  to  that  side  he 
inclines  with  doubt  and  hesitation."     "  When  the  fact  which  the 


MIRACLES,   AS   AN   EVIDENCE   OF   CHRISTIANITY.  71 

testimony  endeavors  to  establish  partakes  of  the  marvellous — th(3 
evidence  resulting  from  testimony  admits  of  a  diminution,  greater 
or  less,  in  proportion  as  the  fact  is  more  or  less  unusual." 

'•  The  reason  why  we  place  any  credit  in  witnesses,  is  not  de- 
rived from  any  connection  which  we  perceive  a  priori  between 
testimony  and  reason,  but  because  we  are  accustomed  to  find  a 
conformity  between  them." 

•'  When  the  fact  is  such  as  lias  seldom  fallen  under  our  obser- 
vation, here  is  a  contest  between  two  opposite  experiences,  of 
which  the  one  destroys  the  other,  as  far  as  its  force  goes,  and  the 
superior  can  only  operate  on  the  mind  by  the  force  whicli  re 
mains."  "But  let  us  suppose  that  the  fact  is  not  only  marvellous, 
but  really  miraculous ;  and  suppose  that  the  testimony  amounts 
to  an  entire  proof  (considered  apart  and  by  itself ;)  in  that  case 
there  is  proof  against  proof,  of  which  the  strongest  inust  prevail, 
but  still  with  a  diminution  of  its  force,  in  proportion  with  that  of 
its  antagonist." 

"  A  miracle  is  a  violation  of  the  law  of  nature,  and  as  a  Jinn 
and  unalterable  experience  has  established  that  law,  the  proof 
against  a  miracle,  from  the  very  nature  of  the  fact,  is  as  entire 
as  any  argument  from  experience  can  possibly  be  imagined.''^ 

"  Nothing  is  a  miracle  that  happens  in  the  common  course  of 
nature.  It  is  no  miracle  that  a  man  seemingly  in  good  health 
should  die  on  a  sudden,  because  such  a  kind  of  death  has  been 
frequently  observed.  But  it  is  a  miracle  that  a  dead  man  should 
come  to  life,  because  that  has  never  been  observed  in  any  age  or 
country.  There  must  therefore  be  a  uniform,  experience  against 
every  'miraculous  event,  otherwise  the  event  would  not  merit 
that  appellation.  And  as  a  uniform  experience  amounts  to  a 
proof,  there  is  here  a  direct  and  full  proof  from  the  nature  of  the 
fact  against  the  existence  of  any  miracle ;  nor  can  such  proof  be 
destroyed  or  the  miracle  rendered  credible,  but  by  an  opposite 
proof  which  is  superior."  Consequently,  "  No  testimony  is  suffi- 
cient to  establish  a  miracle  unless  the  testimony  be  of  such  kind, 
that  its  falsehood  would  be  more  miraculous,  than  the  fact  which 
it  endeavors  to  establish." 

Such  is  Hume's  argument,  from  which  he  concludes  that  "No 
testimony  is  sufficient  to  e:^tablish  a  miracle." 

The  general  principle  of  reasoning  stated  by  Hume  is  not  ma- 
terially objectionable ;  but  a  fair  use  of  that  principle  would  not 
have  served  his  purpose ;  he  therefore  connected  with  it  several 


72  MIRACLES,    AS   AN   EVIDENCE   OF   CHRISTIANITY. 

gratuitous  assumptions,  by  whicli  an  arg-ument  otlierwise  legiti- 
mate though  inconclusive,  lias  been  conve'ted  into  a  mere  soph- 
ism. He  assumes  by  way  of  premise,  tliac  "  a  miracle  has  never 
been  observed  in  any  age  or  country,^''  that  the  '•  uniform  expe- 
rience of  maiikind  is  against  every  miraculous  events  otherwise 
it  would  not  m,erit  that  appellation''^ — tiiat  is,  the  mere  fact  that 
an  event  has  happened,  proves  that  it  deserves  not  the  appellation 
of  a  miracle ;  and  on  this  assumption,  he  grounds  the  assertion, 
that  "  there  is  a  direct  and  full  proof  from  the  nature  of  the  fact 
against  any  miracle." 

What  is  all  this  but  a  mere  begging  of  the  question,  an  arbi- 
trary assumption  of  the  matter  in  dispute? — "No  testimony  is 
sufficient  to  establish  a  miracle,"  is  Hume's  conclusion.  What  is 
the  reason?  (we  ask.)  Because,  (says  the  philosopher)  no  miracle 
has  ever  been  observed,  and  no  observed  event  can  merit  the  ap- 
pellation of  a  miracle  ! — Indeed  !  (we  may  well  exclaim)  if  so, 
the  argument  is  at  an  end :  that  is  the  conclusion  of  the  whole 
matter.  Why  infer  anything  about  the  insufficiency  of  testimony 
to  prove  what  has  never  been  observed,  and  what,  from  the  na- 
ture of  the  fact,  never  can  be  observed  ?  When  a  philosopher 
can  take  it  for  granted  that  a  thing  is  not  and  canriot  be, — surely 
it  is  puerile  in  him  to  come  forth  triumphantly  with  the  conclusion, 
that  it  cannot  be  proved. 

But  Hume  builds  his  argument  upon  the  basis  of  experience. 
Let  us  see  how  he  has  managed  to  raise  an  insuperable  barrier 
of  experience  against  all  possible  testimony  for  miracles. 

He  begins  with  each  individual's  personal  experience.  He  says, 
"  When  the  fact  is  such  as  has  seldom  fallen  under  our  observa- 
tion, here  is  a  contest  between  tvvo  opposite  experiences,  of  which 
the  one  destroys  the  other  so  far  as  its  force  goes,  &c."  What 
two  experiences  are  those  which  he  represents  as  coming  in  con- 
flict, when  the  fact  is  such  as  we  have  seldom  observed?  They 
are  our  positive  and  our  negative  experience  in  relation  to  the  fact. 
For  illustration,  suppose  that  a  neighbor  of  yours  told  you.  that 
he  had  seen  a  man's  leg  broken  by  a  fall  from  a  scaffi)ld.  You 
had  never  perhaps  seen  precisely  such  an  event,  but  you  had  seen, 
we  will  suppose,  one  instance  of  a  man  getting  his  arm  broken  by 
a  fall  from  his  horse.  Let  this  be  your  positive  experience  in  re- 
spect to  facts  of  that  sort.  It  is  something;  but  how  small  com- 
pared with  your  negative  experience  in  relation  to  such  events  ! 
You  had  lived  and  observed  the  events  of  human  life  for  years, 


MIRACLES,    AS   AN   EVIDENCE   OF   CHRISTIANITY.  73 

and  except  in  that  single  instance,  you  had  never  observed  any- 
thing hke  the  event  which  your  neighbor  reported  as  a  fact.  Now 
here  according  to  Hume  is  a  contest  of  opposite  experiences,  of 
which  the  one  destroys  the  other  so  far  as  its  force  goes.  But  if 
negative  experience  has  any  force  against  positive,  then  in  this 
case  tire  vast  preponderance  of  the  negative  must  overvvhehii  the 
positive,  and  make  your  neighbor's  report  exceedingly  improbable. 
—  Would  it  have  that  effect  on  your  mind  or  that  of  any  sane 
man  ?  Certainly  not ;  for  no  rational  man  reasons  in  this  man- 
ner from  his  personal  experience. 

Our  philosopher  being  aware  that  individual  experience  is  too 
narrow  a  basis  for  his  argument,  makes  a  sly  transition  to  the 
general  experience  of  mankind,  where  he  makes  the  assumption 
already  mentioned,  that  no  miracle  has  ever  been  observed,  or  in 
other  words,  that  universal  experience  is  against  every  miraculous 
event.  But  what  I  have  to  remark  at  present,  is  the  fallacious 
manner  in  which  he  sets  universal  experience  against  testimony 
for  miracles.  He  leaves  out  of  view  the  fact,  that  we  derive  from 
testimony  all  our  knowledge  of  what  other  men  have  experienced 
from  the  creation  of  the  world  to  this  day.  Our  personal  expe- 
rience is  but  a  drop  in  the  ocean  of  universal  experience. 

Now  when  he  asserts  that  the  uniform  experience  of  mankind 
is  against  the  occurrence  of  a  miracle,  if  he  means,  as  his  lan- 
guage would  imply,  that  all  testimony  is  against  miracles,  the 
assertion  is  false,  for  there  is  much  testimony  in  their  favor  ;  or 
if  he  means  that  all  the  testimony  that  goes  to  establish  the  gen- 
eral regularity  of  nature  is  true,  but  that  all,  without  exception, 
which  goes  to  prove  occasional  deviations  from  that  regularity,  is 
necessarily  false,  then  we  demand  a  reason  why  the  one  should 
be  true  and  the  other  wholly  false.  It  cannot  be,  because  they 
are  contradictory  testimonies,  and  therefore  the  strongest  should 
prevail.  If  one  man  testify  that  he  has  seen  fishes  without  eyes, 
and  ten  thousand  men  should  testify  that  all  fishes  ever  seen  by 
them  had  eyes,  there  is  no  contradiction  in  the  statements  ;  both 
may  be  true ;  the  general  fact  is,  that  fishes  have  naturally  two 
eyes,  but  in  particular  cases  they  have  none.  Here  is  no  contest 
between  opposite  experiences  or  opposite  testimonies,  as  Hume 
sophistically  pretends.  Hence  you  can  easily  perceive  the  fallacy 
of  his  argument,  when  he  says,  "  A  miracle  is  a  violation  of  the 
law  of  nature,  and  as  a  firm  and  unalterable  experience  has 
established  that   law,    the  proof  against   a  miracle^  from  the 


74  MIEACLES,    AS   AN   EVIDENCE   OF   CHEISTIANITY. 

very  nature  of  the  fact^  is  as  entire  as  any  argimient  can  pos- 
sibly be  imagined^'  Here  he  assumes,  artfully  and  sophistically, 
that  all  the  proof  by  which  the  law  of  nature  is  establislied, 
lies  in  full  force  against  the  occurrence  of  a  miracle:  whereas,  on 
the  contrary,  no  miracle  can  occur  where  there  is  no  law  of  na- 
ture ;  for  according  to  Hume's  own  definition,  a  miracle  is  a  viola- 
tion of  the  law  of  nature.  Be  it  so  then, — that  human  experience 
proves  the  existence  of  the  law  of  nature :  we  all  admit  the  fact, 
— wc  must  admit  it  before  we  can  believe  the  occurrence  of  a 
miracle.  Where  there  is  no  law  there  is  no  violation,  of  a  law  ; 
where  there  is  no  rule  there  is  no  exception.  Milton  represents 
the  chaos,  or  unformed  elements  of  nature,  to  be  full  of  wild  hub- 
bub and  confusion.  No  wpnder ;  chaos  has  no  law,  and  none  of 
its  disorderly  workings  can  be  deemed  miraculous.  Now  to  repre- 
sent the  experience  which  proves  the  law  of  nature  as  being  an 
entire  proof  against  a  miracle,  is  exceedingly  illogical  ;  for  such 
experience,  however  firm  and  unalterable,  it  may  be,  is  entirely 
consistent  with  any  supposed  experience  of  a  miracle,  which, 
"  from  the  nature  of  the  fact,"'  must  be  an  exception  to  the  general 
experience  of  mankind. 

The  only  condition  on  which  experience  can  furnish  any  proq/* 
against  a  miracle,  is,  that  it  be  opposed  to  the  particular  fact  re- 
ported as  a  miracle.  Thus,  if  one  man  testifies  that,  at  a  particu- 
lar time  and  place,  he  saw  the  sun  miraculously  darkened  at  noon- 
day ;  and  another  man  who  was  present  at  the  same  time  and 
place,  testifies  that  he  saw  no  such  thing,  or  only  a  natural  obscu- 
ration of  the  sun  by  a  cloud  ;  in  such  a  case  there  is  an  opposition 
of  reported  experiences,  of  which  those  on  the  negative  side  may 
amount  to  full  proof  against  the  miracle. 

But  Hume's  argument  assumes  that  a  general  negative  experi- 
ence, or  mere  non-experience  of  a  fact  by  mankind  in  general, 
amounts  to  an  entire  proof  against  its  existence.  On  this  princi- 
ple many  facts  of  very  rare  occurrence  are  disproved  by  a  firm 
and  unalterable  experience  of  the  generality  of  mankind.  '  So 
s.4ngular  a  phenomenon  as  the  Siamese  twins  would  be  disproved 
by  the  experience  of  mankind  ;  so  rare  a  phenomenon  as  the  fall 
of  meteoric  stones  from  the  atmosphere,  would  be  incapable  of 
positive  proof,  because  the  negative  experience  of  nearly  all  man- 
kind has  raised  an  insuperable  barrier  against  its  credibility. 

One  more  remark  on  this  part  of  the  argument  will  suffice. 
Though  the  experience  to  which  Hume  refers  is  merely  negative 


JRACLES,    AS  AN   EVIDENCE   OF   CHRISTIANITY.  75 

in  respect  to  miracles,  it  is  positive,  so  far  as  it  goes,  in  re- 
spect to  the  law  of  nature.  I  have  aheady  shown  that  this  does 
not  make  it  inconsistent  with  the  supposition  that  a  miracle 
has  been  experienced,  but  that,  on  the  contrary,  a  miracle  sup- 
poses a  pre-existing  law  of  nature.  Yet  there  is  a  supposable 
case,  in  which  positive  evidence  of  the  regular  operation  of  the 
laws  of  nature  w'ould  disprove  the  occurrence  of  a  miracle  in 
times  past.  If  we  knew  from  experience,  or  otherwise,  that  every 
event  had  come  to  pass  heretofore  in  accordance  with  the  laws  of 
nature,  then,  of  course,  any  supposed  miracle  would  be  inconsist- 
ent with  our  positive  knowledge.  So  far  must  our  knowledge  of 
nature  and  of  the  events  of  time  go,  before  Hume's  argument 
from  experience  can  have  any  validity.  The  moment  you  admit 
tiiat  our  knowledge  of  events  and  of  their  causes  is  defective ; 
that  innumerable  events  have  occurred  of  which  we  know  noth- 
ing, and  that  many  events  have  been  observed  to  happen  from 
causes  unknown  ; — that  moment  is  it  evident  that  human  experi- 
ence does  not,  as.  Hume  affirms,  afford  an  entire  proof,  or  any- 
thing like  it,  against  the  occurrence  of  a  miracle.  And  you  know 
this  to  be  the  fact.  No  living  man  or  set  of  men  are  acquainted 
with  the  millionth  part  of  those  facts  which  the  generations  of 
mankind  have  experienced ;  and  of  that  very  minute  fraction  of 
them,  that  we  have  ourselves  observed,  how  many  have  resulted 
from  causes  of  which  we  have  no  certain  knowledge !  All  this 
numerous  class  of  contingent  events  may  or  may  not  have  hap- 
pened in  the  regular  course  of  nature.  For  aught  that  we  know, 
some  of  them  at  least  may  have  resulted  from  the  interposition 
of  Divine  Providence,  by  which  the  natural  course  of  things  has 
been  changed.  Take  an  instance  given  by  Hume  :  a  man  appa- 
rently in  good  health  suddenly  dies  from  a  cause  unknown.  He 
says  that  this  is  no  miracle,  because  it  has  been  frequently  ob- 
served. Certainly,  we  do  not  call  it  a  miracle,  but  the  true  reason 
why  wc  do  not.  is  that  we  are  ignorant  of  the  cause.  Did  we 
know  that  according  to  the  law  of  nature,  the  man  would  have 
lived  for  years,  but  that  God  killed  him  by  a  stroke  of  super- 
natural power,  then  it  would  be  a  miracle.  Take  another  in- 
stance :  a  man  apparently  at  the  point  of  death  from  disease, 
recovers,  we  know  not  how  nor  why.  Does  experience  of  events 
like  these  and  innumerable  others  of  the  like  contingent  nature, 
prove  anything  either  positively  for  the  uniformly  regular  opera- 
tion of  the  laws  of  nature,  or  negatively  against  occasional  devia- 


76  MIRACLES,    AS  AN   EVIDENCE   OF   CHRISTIANITY. 

tions  by  the  act  of  God?  Certainly  not.  But  they  do  demon- 
strate conclusively,  that  experience — even  common,  every-day 
experience — raises  no  such  insurmountable  proof  against  mira- 
cles, as  Hume  pretends;  and  that,  in  fact,  experience  is  not  incon- 
sistent with  the  supposition,  that  the  Deity  does  sometimes  vary 
the  course  of  nature  for  particular  ends.  But  then,  supposing 
that  God  does  produce  contingent  events  by  controlling  the  course 
of  nature,  we  do  not  recognize  any  event  as  miraculous  unless  it 
be  manifestly  contrary  to  the  law  of  nature ;  and  as,  for  reasons 
before  mentioned,  such  events  must  rarely  occur,  they  are  still  so 
improbable  as  to  require  stronger  proof  than  ordinary  facts. 
Although  negative  evidence  cannot  amount  to  a  proof,  as  Hume's 
argument  assumes,  it  can,  nevertheless,  extend  so  far  as  to  raise  a 
strong  presumption  against  a  reported  fact,  and  this  it  does  in  the 
case  of  miracles. 

Having  thus  disposed  of  the  principal  sophistries  which  Hume 
has  wrought  into  the  body  of  his  argument,  I  come  now  to  con- 
sider the  principle  from  which  the  argument  derives  all  its  logical 
force.  Had  the  skeptical  philosopher  made  a  legitimate  use  of 
the  principle,  unmixed  with  unwarrantable  assumptions  and  other 
tricks  of  sophistry,  in  combating  the  testimony  in  favor  of  mira- 
cles, his  argument,  though  inconclusive  against  the  miracles  of 
Christ,  would  have  been  fair  and  worthy  of  respectful  consideration. 

He  thus  lays  down  the  principle:  "No  testimony  is  sufficient  to 
establish  a  miracle,  unless  the  testimony  be  of  such  a  kind  that 
its  falsehood  would  be  more  miraculous  [that  is,  more  improbable,] 
than  the  fact  which  it  endeavors  to  establish." 

This  is  a  just  principle.  The  improbability  of  a  miracle  must 
be  overcome  by  proof,  which  must  be  stronger  in  proportion  as  the 
imp'-obability  is  greater.  That  proof  must,  to  those  who  are  noi 
eye-witnesses,  be  furnished  by  testimon3^  But  human  testimony 
is  liable  to  error  and  falsehood.  Hence,  it  is  only  probable  th/at  a 
witness  will  tell  the  truth,  and  more  or  less  probable  according  to  his 
competency,  his  moral  character,  and  the  motives  that  operate  on 
his  mind  \n  giving  his  evidence.  Without  some  particular  motive 
to  falsify,  all  men  will  probably  tell  the  truth,  substantially  at 
least. 

But,  however  lowly  we  may  estimate  the  veracity  of  mankind  in 
general,  certain  it  is  that  testimony  is  susceptible  of  indefinite  accu- 
mulation, by  increasing  the  number  of  witnesses  ;  especially  when 
the  witnesses  are  of  good  character,  and  are  competent  to  report 


MIRACLES,    AS   AN   EVIDENCE   OF   CHRISTIANITY.  77 

correctly  what  they  have  observed.  Still,  however,  the  credibihty 
of  their  testimony,  in  a  particular  case,  will  be  weakened  in  pro- 
portion to  the  improbability  of  the  fact  to  which  they  testify. 
Hence,  to  justify  our  belief  of  an  improbable  fact,  we  must  judge 
the  fact  to  be  less  improbable  than  the  falsehood  of  the  testimony  ; 
and  the  degree  of  our  belief  will  be  stronger,  as  the  weight  of  the 
testimony  preponderates  more  strongly  over  the  improbability  of 
the  fact.  Hence,  because  a  miracle  is  a  very  improbable  sort  of 
event,  a  firm  faith  in  its  occurrence  ought  not  to  be  entertained 
without  much  stronger  proof  than  is  necessary  in  regard  to  ordi- 
nary facts.  The  testimony  ought  to  be  such,  that  its  falsehood 
shall  be  decidedly  more  improbable  than  the  fact  itself.  This  is 
Hume's  principle,  and  I  adopt  it  in  arguing  against  Hume's  con- 
clusion, that  '•  no  testimony  is  sufficient  to  prove  a  miracle." 

The  argument  is  now  on  the  general  question,  whether  or  not 
a  miracle  is  susceptible  of  proof  by  testimony.  Hume  denies  it ; 
we  affirm  it.  We  take  for  granted,  that  a  miracle  is,  from  its 
nature,  a  very  improbable  sort  of  event,  and  that  the  testimony  of 
man  is  fallible,  yet  capable  of  affi)rding  evidence,  more  or  less,  of 
any  possible  event.  We  have  to  determine,  whether  it  can  have 
sufficient  weight  to  overcome  the  improbability  of  a  miracle. 

I  undertake  to  demonstrate  that  human  testimony  is  susceptible 
of  such  a  cumulative  force,  that  it  can  overcome  any  assignable 
degree  of  improbability  in  the  fact  which  it  tends  to  establish. 

Before  I  proceed  to  analyze  the  force  of  testimony,  let  me  call 
your  attention  to  some  familiar  examples  of  its  power  to  produce 
conviction  against  strong  antecedent  improbabilities.  You  know 
that  we  derive  the  far  greater  part  of  our  knowledge  from  the 
reports  of  other  men,  that  is,  from  testimony.  All  our  belief  in  facts 
beyond  the  narrow  sphere  of  our  personal  experience,  is  founded  on 
testimony.  Many  of  these  facts  are  highly  improbable,  if  we  judge 
them  by  our  own  observation  and  experience.  We  shiver  in  the 
moderate  cold  of  our  winters,  yet  we  firmly  believe  the  men  who 
report,  that  whole  tribes  of  mankind  live  and  enjoy  life  in  an  at- 
mosphere that  freezes  mercury.  We  know  that  the  general  mass 
of  materials  composing  this  globe  is  incombustible,  yet  we  believe 
that  mountains  disgorge  rivers  of  melted  rocks,  even  amidst  frozen 
oceans  and  glaciers  of  eternal  ice.  We  know  that  masses  of  stone 
are  with  difficulty  heaved  a  few  yards  into  the  air ;  but  w^e  fully 
credit  the  reports  of  a  few  men  who  profess  to  have  seen  red-hot 
stones  of  considerable  weight  fall  from  the  upper  regions  of  the 


78  MIRACLES,    AS   AN   EVIDENCE   OF   CHRISTIANITY. 

atmosphere,  though  we  cannot  imagine  how  they  were  projected 
to  such  a  height,  or  whence  they  could  have  originated.  When 
we  consider  the  present  state  of  the  earth,  and  what  we  know  of 
its  hving  tribes,  it  is  hard  to  beheve  that  monstrous  animals,  four 
times  as  large  as  the  elepliant,  should  once  have  lived  by  tens  of 
thousands  in  the  frozen  regions  of  Siberia ;  yet  we  give  our  un- 
hesitating assent  to  the  testimony  of  a  few  travellers,  who  declare 
that  innumerable  bones  of  such  animals  are  found  in  the  icy  soil 
of  that  country.  AVe  also  hold  it  for  certain,  on  the  testimony  of 
men,  that  the  skeletons  of  strange  monsters  of  various  kinds,  have 
been  found  imbedded  hundreds  of  feet  deep  in  the  solid  rocks  of 
this  globe.  And  how  improbable  in  themselves  are  the  stories 
which  travellers  relate  concerning  the  artificial  wonders  of  Egypt ! 
What  is  Egypt  but  a  narrow  vale  between  immense  deserts, 
where  no  rain  falls,  and  where  two  or  three  millions  of  poor  in- 
habitants draw  subsistence  from  the  mud  of  the  Nile.  Yet  here 
do  travellers  pretend  to  have  found  the  most  stupendous  monu- 
ments of  human  labor,  that  the  world  ever  saw — the  pyramids, 
the  catacombs  with  their  millions  of  mummies,  and  the  ruins  of 
Thebes.  How  could  such  structures  and  such  excavations  in  solid 
rock,  have  been  made  by  human  hands  in  such  a  country  ?  You 
wonder,  and  yet  you  believe  with  as  firm  a  faith  as  if  you  had  seen 
those  unaccountable  objects  with  your  own  eyes.  And  how  much 
like  a  wild  romance  is  that  ancient  story  of  Alexander  of  Macedon  ? 
Can  you  believe  that  so  petty  a  king,  whose  hereditary  dominions 
were  a  small  space  between  the  mountains  and  the  sea  in  a  cor- 
ner of  Europe,  could  have  conquered  Asia  with  30,000  men  ? — 
that  he  could  have  overthrown  millions  of  soldiers,  and  crossed 
vast  deserts,  in  his  victorious  march,  from  the  Mediterranean  sea 
to  the  Indian  ocean?  Yet  although  the  story  is  more  than  2000 
years  old,  and  rests  upon  the  authenticity  of  a  few  ancient  records, 
every  reading  man  has  full  confidence  in  its  truth.  You  may  never 
have  seen  the  Alps,  yet  you  easily  believe  on  testimony  that  the}'^ 
are  a  mountain  barrier,  so  high,  so  precipitous,  so  covered  with 
perpetual  ice  and  snow,  that  it  is  very  difficult  for  travellers  to 
cross,  except  by  a  modern  road  constructed  with  immense  labor. 
What  think  you,  then,  was  the  feasibility  of  marching  a  great 
army  across  them  in  ancient  times,  when  there  was  no  road, 
when  every  valley  and  gorge  was  occupied  by  savage  moun- 
taineers, ready  to  roll  huge  rocks  from  the  precipices  upon  every 
invader?     Yet  on  the  authority  of  a  few  ancient  historians,  you 


MIRACLES,    AS   AN   EVIDENCE   OF   CHRISTIANIXr.  79 

believe  that  Hannibal  led  an  African  army  of  60,000  men  through 
those  narrow  gorges,  up  those  frightful  precipices,  over  those 
fields  of  ice,  over  those  snowy  peaks,  and  down  again  into  the 
gulfs  that  led  to  fair  Italy  ;  that  he  took  with  him  not  only  his 
60,000  men,  but  all  their  provisions,  forage,  tents,  arms,  horses, 
and  elephants — all,  over  a  route  where  often  even  the  experienced 
chamois-hunter  would  scared}  venture  to  climb.  You  have  no 
doubt  of  these  facts. 

Consider  how  absolutely  certain  you  feel  concerning  innumera- 
ble facts,  of  which  your  knowledge  is  derived  wholly  from  testi- 
mon}'^,  oral  or  written.  Does  anything  appear  more  certain  to 
you,  and  to  all  other  intelligent  men,  than  the  existence  of  such 
a  country  as  Japan,  or  the  former  existence  and  actions  of  such 
men  as  Christopher  Columbus,  Martin  Luther,  and  Napoleon 
Bonaparte?  But  in  respect  to  most  facts  that  have  come  to  your 
knowledge,  and  of  which  you  feel  iiuhihitabhj  certain,  the  testi- 
mony on  which  you  rely  is  exceedingly  indirect.  Between  you 
and  the  original  witnesses  are  many  intermediate  reporters.  Yet 
I  he  man  who  should  presume  to  deny  these  facts  would  be  won- 
dered at  as  a  curious  specimen  of  the  genus  homo — a  very  pecu- 
liar sort  of  fool. 

The  illustrations  just  given  of  the  power  of  testimony  to  pro- 
duce a  firm  conviction  of  even  the  most  improbable  facts,  are 
sufficient  to  show  that  belief  in  testimony  is  a  law  of  our  nature, 
and  that  no  conceivable  fact  can  be  rejected  as  incredible,  when 
the  full  power  of  testimony  is  brought  to  bear  upon  the  mind. 

I  now  proceed  to  analyze  the  force  of  testimony,  and  to  show 
how  it  is  susceptible  of  indefinite  augmentation,  until  it  shall 
overcome  the  highest  conceivable  degree  of  improbability  in  the 
fact  to  which  it  is  applied. 

In  the  first  place,  testimony  may  derive  any  degree  of  force 
from  undesigned  coincidence  in  the  statements  of  different  wit- 
nesses, who  give  independent  testimony. 

Witnesses  and  their  testimony  are  said  to  be  independent  when 
there  is  no  previous  concert  or  design  by  which  the  testimony  of 
one  witness  is  made  to  coincide  with  that  of  another.  It  is  an 
evidence  that  the  coincidence  is  undesigned,  when  the  witnesses 
have  not  communicated  with  one  another  about  the  matter  of 
their  testimony.  But  this  is  not  necessar}^  to  constitute  inde- 
pendent testimony.  It  is  sufficient  that  each  witness  tells  his  own 
story,  without  depending  on  the  information  or  instruction  of  an- 


80  MIRACLES,   AS  AN  EVIDENCE   OF   CHRISTIANITY. 

Other  as  to  what  he  shall  testify.  You  have  probably  reiuaiked 
in  the  manner  of  witnesses,  and  in  the  matter  and  circumstances 
of  their  testimony,  sufficient  evidence  that  they  spoke  independ- 
ently from  tiieir  personal  knowledge  of  facts,  and  not  from  the 
promptings  of  another.  But  I  need  not  explain  by  what  means 
we  may  ascertain  the  independency  of  witnesses.  It  is  enough 
for  you  to  know  that  there  are  such  witnesses,  and  that  the  coin- 
cidence of  their  testimony  is  not  the  result  of  concert  or  design. 
Then  the  coincidence  can  result  only  from  chance,  or  from  the 
truth  of  their  testimony.  We  suppose  that  the  facts  of  which 
they  testify  are  of  a  contingent  nature,  and  capable  of  being 
known  as  facts  only  from  actual  observation. 

Thus,  if  two  men  were  to  tell  you  independently  that  they 
had  seen  a  certain  man  killed  accidentally  by  the  fall  of  a  tree, 
it  is  evident  that  either  the  report  is  true,  or  they  must  by  mere 
chance  have  hit  upon  the  same  falsehood.  In  proportion  as  it  is 
improbable  that  such  an  undesigned  coincidence  in  falsehood 
should  occur,  is  it  probable  that  the  testimony  is  true,  even  though 
the  witnesses  were  personally  unworthy  of  credit. 

Now  the  more  numerous  the  particulars  in  which  these  wit- 
nesses concur  in  their  statements,  the  more  improbable  is  it  that 
the  coincidence  should  have  resulted  from  chance;  not  only  so, 
but  the  improbability  increases  in  a  geometrical  ratio,  as  the 
points  of  coincidence  increase  in  number.  Contingent  events  are 
infinitely  diversified  in  time,  place,  and  circumstances.  Many 
men  have  been  killed  by  the  fall  of  trees,  yet  probably  no  two  in- 
stances have  coincided  in  all  their  circumstances.  Two  men  might 
possibly  feign  or  fancy  an  incident  of  this  sort  about  the  same 
time;  it  is  not  impossible  that  they  should  happen  to  do  it  near  the 
same  place;  nor  will  1  pronounce  it  impossible  that  they  should 
happen  to  tell  this  fiction  of  theirs  to  the  same  person,  as  a  fact 
which  they  had  seen.  But  you  will  allow  that  an  undesigned 
coincidence,  even  to  this  extent,  is  exceedingly  improbable.  What 
would  you  say  then  if  they  agreed  exactly  in  regard  to  the  time 
and  place  of  the  accident,  the  sort  of  tree  that  fell,  the  cause  of 
its  fall,  what  sort  of  injury  it  inflicted  on  the  man,  &c.  ?  Would 
you  not  feel  that  it  was  morally  impossible  to  attribute  such  a  web 
of  coincidences  to  chance?  Hence,  if  it  be  granted  that  the  wit- 
nesses were  independent,  you  would  say  at  once  that  the  testi- 
mony must  be  true. 

I  said  that  the  degree  of  probability  increased  in  a  geometrical 


^■•■!  V' 


MIRACLES,    AS   AX   EVIDENCE   OF   CKEISTIANITY.  81 

ratio  as  the  points  of  coincidences  increased  in  number.  Tiiis  is 
capable  of  mathematical  demonstration;  but  I  shall  not  enter 
fully  into  this  method  of  proof.  I  shall  only  illustrate  the  princi- 
ple sufficiently  to  make  it  intelligible. 

Suppose  the  two  men  referred  to  should  happen  to  conceive  the 
idea  of  telling  the  falsehood,  that  a  certain  man  was  killed  :  yet 
the  chances  we  will  suppose  are  only  100  to  1  against  their 
happening  to  coincide  in  respect  to  the  manner  of  his  death  by 
the  fall  of  a  tree.  Then  suppose  they  each  invent  for  himself 
a  place  at  which  they  Avill  locate  the  accident,  the  chances  are  at 
least  1000  to  1  against  their  coinciding  on  this  point.  But  the 
chances  were  100  to  1  against  their  coinciding  in  the  other, 
therefore  the  chances  would  be  100,000  to  1  against  their  coin- 
ciding in  both  at  once.  Now,  suppose  they  consider,  each  for 
liimself,  what  sort  of  tree  he  shall  pitch  upon  as  the  cause  of  the 
man's  death.  Here  the  range  of  choice  is  limited  ;  say  the  chances 
are  only  three  to  one  against  their  coinciding  in  this  particular ; 
then  the  probability  is,  that  they  would  coincide  three  times  as 
often  in  the  two  former  points  as  in  all  three  at  once.  Therefore, 
the  chances  are  300,000  to  1  against  their  coinciding  in  all  these 
three  points.  So.  as  they  coincided  in  four,  five  or  six,  or  more 
points,  would  the  chances  against  the  falsehood  of  their  testimony 
be  multiplied,  until  they  amounted  to  a  moral  certainty  that  the 
testimony  could  not  be  false. 

But  equally  potent  is  an  increase  in  the  number  of  independent 
witnesses  to  multiply  the  chances  against  the  falsehood  of  their 
testimony,  or,  what  is  the  same  thing,  to  multiply  the  degree  of 
probability  in  favor  of  its  truth.  I  supposed  that  when  two  men 
happened  about  the  same  time  to  invent  a  lie  respecting  a  certain 
person's  death,  the  chances  were  at  least  100  to  1  against  their 
both  hitting  upon  so  rare  a  cause  of  death  as  the  fall  of  a  tree. 
I  have  assumed  too  low  a  number,  but  let  it  stand.  Now,  sup- 
posing the  very  improbable  case,  that  three  men  should  at  once, 
without  concert,  take  it  into  their  heads  to  fabricate  a  tale  about 
the  same  person's  death.  We  will  leave  out  that  improbability, 
and  suppose  that  the  three  did  chance  to  do  this  improbable  thing, 
and  that  the  chances  were,  as  aforesaid,  100  to  1  against  any  two 
of  them  coinciding  in  respect  to  the  cause  of  his  death.  Then  it 
is  evident  that  two  of  them  would  coincide  in  this  particular  100 
times  as  often  as  all  three  would  ;  that  is,  the  chances  would  be 
10.000  to  1  against   their  all  coinciding  at  once.     And  so  on 

6 


82  MIRACLES,    AS  AN    EVIDENCE   OF   CHRISTIANITY. 

would  we  have  to  multiply  the  former  results  throughout,  as  we 
added  witness  after  witness.  You  can  easily  conceive  then  that 
the  power  of  testimony,  considered  merely  as  undesignedly  coin- 
ciding, is  practically  unlimited,  and  capable  of  such  accumulation, 
as  to  overcome  any  assignable  degree  of  improbability  in  the  fact 
to  which  such  testimony  is  applied. 

Should  any  of  the  younger  part  of  my  audience  not  have  as 
yet  a  clear  conception  of  the  grounds  of  this  mathematical  sort  of 
reasoning  on  chances  or  probabilities,  I  can  only  refer  him  to  any 
good  mathematician,  or  any  good  treatise  on  the  subject,  for  a 
fuller  explanation.  No  method  of  human  reasoning  is  more 
certain  in  its  results  than  this.  The  only  room  for  error  is  in  the 
numbers  assumed  to  express  the  chances,  or  the  degrees  of  proba- 
bility or  improbability.  The  method  of  calculation  is  infallible; 
and  I  have  given  you  a  specimen  of  it  merely  to  show  how  rap- 
idly the  probabilities  of  truth  are  multiplied,  as  the  points  of  coin- 
cidence and  the  number  of  the  independent  witnesses  increase, 
and  how  soon  they  accumulate  to  such  a  degree  of  moral  cer- 
tainty, as  to  overcome  any  conceivable  degree  of  improbability  in 
the  nature  of  the  fact. 

To  illustrate  the  principle  of  this  method  of  reasoning,  I  will 
propose  to  you  some  simple  case,  in  which  events  are  referred  to 
what  we  call  chance.  Suppose  for  example,  that  you  had  before 
you  a  confused  heap  of  printer's  types,  and  you  thrust  your  hand 
among  them  at  haphazard,  and  drew  out  successively  two  types, 
with  the  design  of  speUing  the  little  word  so.  Would  you  not 
probably  have  to  make  many  trials  before  you  succeeded  in  draw- 
ing the  right  letters  in  the  right  order?  But  suppose  that  you 
chose  a  word  of  three  letters  instead  of  two,  as  the  monosyllable 
jnati.  Consider  how  much  the  chances  of  failure  would  be  mul- 
tiplied by  this  single  addition  of  a  letter  ;  how  often  you  might 
hit  the  two  first  letters  without  hitting  the  third  at  the  same  time? 
So  it  is  w^ith  coincidences  when  they  result  from  chance.  And 
then  if  two  of  you  should  try  the  same  experiments  together,  how 
often  might  the  one  or  the  other  succeed  before  both  should  suc- 
ceed at  the  same  trial?  So  is  it  with  independent  testimony,  when 
we  increase  the  number  of  witnesses.  How  often  mig-ht  one  of 
them  hit  upon  a  particular  set  of  circumstances  when  he  invented 
a  lie,  before  both  should  hit  upon  them  all  at  the  same  trial. 

I  trust  that  I  have  sufficiently  demonstrated  the  power  of  inde- 
pendent testimony  to  establish  the  most  improbable  sort  of  facts  ; 


MIRACLES,    AS  AN   EVIDENCE   OF   CHEISTIANITY.  83 

and  that  too  without  respect  to  the  moral  character  of  the  wit- 
nesses. 

In  the  second  place,  testimony  derives  force  from  the  character 
of  the  witnesses,  for  veracity  and  competency ;  and  this  too  is 
susceptible  of  infinite  accumulation. 

Men  naturally  tell  the  truth  ;  and  although  motives  of  interest 
and  passion  may  lead  them  to  swerve  from  it,  sometimes,  there 
is  also  implanted  in  the  human  breast  a  moral  feeling-  which 
resists  the  motives  to  falsehood,  and  gives  more  or  less  weight  to 
the  testimony  of  honest  men,  even  when  they  are  tempted  to 
utter  a  falsehood.  Regard  to  reputation  is  another  powerful 
check  upon  the  motives  to  falsehood.  A  liar  is  one  of  the  most 
infamous  characters  in  society.  Mankind  feel  the  necessity  of 
maintaining  truth  with  one  another.  Therefore  they  brand  the 
false  witness  as  a  dangerous  character,  and  point  at  him  with  the 
finger  of  scorn.  But  nature  prompts  even  liars  to  tell  many  more 
truths  than  falsehoods ;  and  nature  and  moral  principle  and  re- 
gard to  reputation  combined,  give  a  general  character  of  truth  to 
the  testimony  of  mankind  ;  at  least  of  substantial  truth,  even 
when  interest  or  prejudice  causes  it  to  be  somewhat  disfigured. 

But  men  may  err  in  their  testimony  through  incompetency  to 
observe  and  report  correctly  the  facts  of  which  they  testify.  Due 
allowance  must  be  made  for  this  in  estimating  the  credibility  of  a 
witness.  When  the  facts  are  simple  and  obvious  to  the  senses, 
almost  any  man  is  competent  to  testify  about  them.  He  can  tell 
what  he  plainly  saw  and  heard  and  felt,  though  he  may  not  be 
quahfied  to  reason  on  the  subject. 

To  demonstrate  that  testimony  may  have  force  sufficient  in  the 
personal  credibility  of  the  witnesses,  it  is  not  necessary  to  assign 
to  each  witness  a  high  degree  of  credibility.  Let  it  only  be  prob- 
able that  a  witness  will  tell  the  truth,  and  the  force  of  the  testi- 
mony will,  as  in  the  former  case,  be  multiplied  by  every  additional 
witness.  Let  the  probability  be  only  as  two  to  one,  that  a  single 
witness  will  tell  the  truth ;  then  the  probability  will  be  as  four  to 
one  that  the  testimony  of  two  such  witnesses,  when  they  eon- 
cur,  is  true ; — and  so  on  the  probability  of  truth  will  be  doubled 
by  each  additional  witness.  But  when  the  witnesses  are  honest, 
conscientious  men,  you  will  readily  admit  that  the  probable  truth 
of  their  testimony  is  far  greater.  When  such  a  man  is  not  very 
powerfully  tempted  to  swerve  from  the  truth,  you  will  allow  that 
1000  to  1  is  a  very  low  estimate  of  the  probable  truth  of  his  tes- 


84  MIRACLES,    AS  AN  EVIDENCE   OF  CHRISTL'US'ITY. 

timony.  Then  let  two  such  witnesses  concur,  and  the  probability 
is  a  thousand  thousands,  or  a  million  to  one,  that  their  testimony 
is  true ;  and  every  additional  witness  of  this  character  will  multi- 
ply the  probability  a  thousand-fold.  Now  suppose  that  twelve 
such  witnesses  concur ;  if  you  calculate  the  force  of  their  united 
testimony,  it  mounts  up  to  an  almost  inconceivable  quantity, — to 
a  moral  certainty  of  truth  so  powerful,  that  no  degree  of  im- 
probability in  the  fact  attested,  can  resist  its  force.  Yet  the  num- 
ber of  witnesses  is  supposed  to  be  only  twelve  :  what  if  it  were 
a  hundred  or  a  thousand? 

Observe  that  we  put  the  probability  of  truth  in  one  scale  of  the 
balance,  and  the  improbability  of  the  fact  in  the  other,  as  Mr. 
Hume  directs;  and  then  give  our  judgment  in  favor  of  the  side 
which  preponderates.  We  must  therefore  allow  the  testimony  its 
full  weight  independently  of  the  nature  of  the  fact ;  taking  care 
not  to  let  the  improbability  of  the  fact  itself  detract  anything  from 
the  testimony,  until  we  put  them  into  the  scales. 

If  any  one  should  be  at  a  loss  to  understand  how  the  addition 
of  one  witness  can  in  this  case  so  multiply  the  force  of  the  testi- 
mony, I  ask  his  attention  to  this  observation.  When  the  question 
is  whether  a  particular  event  has  or  has  not  occurred,  if  we  can 
believe  any  one  witness,  who  testifies  that  it  has  occurred,  then 
we  must  consider  the  fact  as  established.  All  that  we  need,  there- 
fore, to  justify  our  belief  of  the  fact,  is  to  feel  morally  sure  that 
one  witness  out  of  all  who  testify  can  be  relied  upon  as  true.  Then 
it  matters  not  whether  we  can  rely  upon  the  rest,  or  not ;  for  if 
any  one  tells  the  truth,  then  it  follows  that  all  who  concur  with 
him,  also  tell  the  truth  in  that  case,  though  the};^  should  falsify  ia 
other  cases.  In  this  case,  if  one  be  true,  all  must  be  true  ;  and  it 
is  only  on  the  supposition  that  all  concur  at  once  in  the  same 
falsehood,  that  their  testimony  can  be  discredited. 

From  this  observation,  it  may  be  easily  understood,  when  wit- 
nesses are  probably  honest,  how  an  addition  to  their  number  not 
only  increases  but  multiplies  the  force  of  their  testimony,  because 
it  multiplies  the  chances  that  some  one  among  them  can  be 
relied  on  as  a  true  witness,  or  what  is  the  same  thing,  multi- 
plies the  improbability  that  they  should  all  concur  in  the  same 
falsehood. 

I  have  now  shown  satisfactorily,  I  trust,  that  human  testimony 
is  susceptible  of  two  sorts  of  force,  each  of  which  may  be  aug- 


MIRACLES,    AS   AN  EVIDENCE   OF   CHRISTIANITY.  85 

merited  to  any  extent  necessary  to  overcome  the  improbability  of 
any  conceivable  event. 

Wiiat  shall  we  say,  then,  of  the  force  of  testimony,  when  it 
combines  these  elements  of  strength  ; — when  the  force  of  unde- 
signed coincidence  in  the  testimony  is  multiplied  by  the  force  of 
honesty  and  good  faith  in  the  witnesses  ?  Yet  these  elements  of 
strength  may  be,  and  often  are,  combined.  How  miserably  dis- 
eased with  skepticism  must  a  man's  intellect  be,  who  can  affirm, 
as  Hume  did,  that  no  testimony  is  sufficient  to  establish  a  miracle  ! 

But  I  need  not  urge  the  force  of  testimony  any  further  ;  for  this 
same  skeptical  philosopher,  after  elaborating  an  argument  by 
which  the  force  of  all  possible  testimony  for  miracles  was  to  be 
paralyzed,  does  in  the  same  Essay  give  up  the  point,  by  admitting 
that  the  most  stupendous  miracle  might  be  proved  by  the  testi- 
mony of  men  ; — no  less  a  miracle  than  this,  namely,  that  at  a 
certain  time,  ages  ago,  the  sun  was  totally  darkened  for  the  space 
of  eight  days.  If  testimony  might,  as  Hume  says,  have  force 
enough  to  prove  such  an  awful  derangement  in  the  course  of 
nature,  how  much  less  would  be  sufficient  to  prove  that  a  teacher 
sent  from  God  had  miraculously  healed  some  diseased  persons,  and 
had  himself  risen  from  the  dead  ? 

But  whilst  he  thus  concedes  that  testimony  is  of  force  to  prove 
an  unheard-of  miracle,  void  of  all  moral  use  and  signification,  he 
resolves  that  religion  shall  not  benefit  by  his  concession,  for  he 
expressly  excepts  religious  miracles  as  wholly  incredible,  because 
mankind  have  been  often  imposed  on  by  stories  of  such  miracles. 
He  summarily  disposes  of  religious  miracles  forever,  by  declaring 
that  they  ought  to  be  universally  rejected  without  examination. 
But  if  the  frequency  of  imposture  in  relation  to  a  class  of  facts  be 
a  sufficient  reason  for  scouting  the  whole  as  incredible,  then  Ave 
ought  to  reject  all  reports  of  cures  by  medicine,  because  mankind 
are  daily  imposed  on  by  the  worthless  nostrums  of  advertising 
quacks. 

And  this,  at  last,  is  the  result  of  Hume's  Essay  on  Miracles, 
which  has  given  so  much  trouble  to  writers  on  the  Evidences  of 
Christianity.  After  packing  together  a  mixture  of  sound  prin- 
ciples and  miserable  sophisms  into  the  form  of  an  infallible  argu- 
ment against  miracles,  the  author  himself  virtually  abandons  his 
argument,  and  falls  back  upon  the  last  refuge  of  a  despairing 
skeptic, — a  resolution  not  to  believe  in  Christianity,  whatever  may 
be  its  evidence,  and  to  scout  all  religious  miracles  without  exami- 


86  MIRACLES,    AS  AN  EVIDENCE   OF   CHRISTIANITY. 

nation.  This  resolution  shows  that  he  found  it  very  hard  to  dis- 
believe the  tniracles  of  Jesus  Christ. 

II.  I  come  now  to  the  second  head  of  the  general  subject,  which 
is  to  consider  the  nature  and  the  evidence  of  the  mighty  works 
ascribed  to  our  Saviour  Jesus  Christ.  I  confine  myself  to  these 
among  all  that  are  recorded  in  the  Bible,  in  order,  by  simplifying 
the  discussion,  to  reduce  it  to  the  narrow  limits  of  a  lecture  ;  nor 
is  it  necessary  to  go  beyond  them  ;  for  these  are  obviously  the  test 
miracles,  by  which  the  Christian  religion  must,  so  far  as  its  Divine 
authority  is  concerned,  either  stand  or  fall. 

First,  then,  let  us  examine  the  nature  of  these  mighty  works, 
and  determine  whether  any  of  them  were  really  miraculous  or 
not.  I  say,  miy  of  them,  because  even  one  undoubted  miracle  is 
sufficient  to  prove  the  Divine  interposition,  and  to  establish  the 
doctrines  of  the  great  teacher.  The  certainty,  also,  that  one  or  a 
few  were  real  miracles,  will  also  determine  the  nature  of  those 
which,  if  considered  by  themselves,  might  be  in  some  degree  ques- 
tionable. 

In  determining  the  nature  of  the  mighty  works  ascribed  to 
Jesus  Christ,  we  must  take  the  facts  as  they  are  related  in  the 
evangelical  records  ;  for  we  are  not  considering  whether  those 
facts  actually  occurred,  but  whether,  supposing  them  to  have  occur- 
red, they  were  really  miraculous  or  not. 

In  respect  to  some  of  them,  it  is  easy  to  determine  that  they 
could  not  have  resulted  from  natural  causes :  they  must,  there- 
fore, have  been  miraculous.  Of  this  sort  was  Christ's  walking 
upon  the  sea  (Matt.  xiv.  25)  ;  his  feeding  thousands  with  a  few 
small  loaves  and  fishes  (Matt.  xiv.  15.) ;  his  giving  sight  to  a  man 
born  blind  by  the  application  of  clay  moistened  with  spittle  (John 
ix.) ;  his  raising  Lazarus  from  the  tomb  (John  xi.),  and  his  own 
resurrection  from  the  dead  and  visible  ascent  to  heaven. 

Next  to  these  is  a  sort  of  cases,  which,  if  taken  singly,  are  not 
demonstrably  supernatural,  but  when  taken  collectively  and  in 
'  connection  with  the  circumstances,  must  also  be  considered  as  un- 
questionably miraculous.  Of  this  sort  are  the  numerous  cases  in 
which  Christ  instantaneously  healed  men  of  diseases,  which  were 
almost,  if  not  quite  incurable  by  natural  means, — such  as  inveter- 
ate leprosies,  palsies,  epilepsies,  lunacy,  &c.  (Matt.  viii.  Luke  v. 
Mark  v.  John  v.)  Admitting  that  in  some  rare  instances,  persons 
deeply  affected  with  such  diseases,  might  naturally  recover,  I 
think  that  you   will  esteem  it  impossible  for  any  man  without 


MIEACLES,    AS   AN  EVIDENCE   OF   CHRISTIANITY.  8< 

miraculous  power  to  effect  instantaneously  many  cuies  of  this  sort 
in  succession,  and  without  a  failure,  as  often  as  the  ptttients  pre- 
sented themselves.  What  I  have  to  say  on  a  third  sort  of  cases 
will  apply  with  additional  force  to  these  also,  and  remove  any 
doubt  that  may  linger  in  your  minds. 

In  the  third  sort  of  cases,  the  events  were  such  as  might  pro- 
ceed from  natural  causes,  and  the  only  evidence  of  their  miracu- 
lous character,  consisted  in  the  circumstances  and  manner  of  their 
production.  Such  was  the  sudden  fall  of  the  wind  on  Lake  Tibe- 
rias, when  Jesus  commanded  it  to  cease  (Matt.  viii.  18).  The 
recovery  of  patients  from  ordinary  diseases  without  the  application 
of  remedies,  as  in  the  case  of  Simon  Peter's  mother-in-law,  who 
was  ill  of  a  fever  (Luke  iv.  38).  Into  this  class  I  also  put  the 
cases  of  Jairus's  daughter  and  the  widow's  son,  who  were  resusci- 
tated after  apparent  death  (Luke  viii.  41,  Luke  vii.  11,  12).  For 
although  cases  of  revival  after  apparent  death  are  rare,  yet  as 
they  do  sometimes  occur  from  natural  causes,  the  mere  occurrence 
of  the  fact  is  no  evidence  of  a  miracle. 

But  whilst  events  of  this  sort  are  not  necessarily  miraculous, 
neither  are  they  necessarily  the  result  of  natural  causes.  The 
most  common  sort  of  event  is  miraculous,  when  it  happens  out  of 
the  regular  course  of  nature, — when  the  cause  on  which  it  naturally 
depends  is  wanting,  and  its  occurrence  can  be  accounted  for  only 
on  the  supposition  of  a  supernatural  cause.  A  gust  of  wind  may 
suddenly  blow  over, — a  sick  man  may  regain  his  health,  and  a  blind 
man  may  recover  his  sight ;  and  a  man  after  lying  breathless  for 
hours  may  return  to  life  ;  and  though  the  cause  may  be  unknown, 
yet  the  circumstances  of  the  case  may  give  no  indication  of  a 
miracle.  Before  a  miracle  can  be  inferred,  there  must  be  a  sign 
of  supernatural  agency.  What  was  the  sign  in  these  cases  ?  It 
was  the  wonderful  coincidence  between  certain  acts  of  Jesus  and 
the  events  which  immediately  followed.  According  to  the  law  of 
nature,  the  acts  of  Jesus  could  not  have  produced  such  effects  ;  yet 
the  events  sprang  forth  instantaneously,  as  the  effect  springs  from 
the  cause,  and  quite  as  certainly  and  regularly  as  if  all  had  occur- 
red in  the  ordinary  course  of  nature.  A  storm  agitates  the  waters 
and  threatens  to  overwhelm  the  frail  boat  in  which  Jesus  lies 
asleep.  He  is  wakened  with  the  fearful  cry.  Lord  save,  or  we 
perish  !  He  rises,  and  commands  the  winds  to  be  stHl.  Instantly 
there  is  a  great  calm.  A  woman  lies  ill  of  a  great  fever.  Jesus 
happens  to  arrive  at  the  house,  and  seeing  her  condition,  he  takes 


88  MIRACLES,    AS   AN   EVIDEKCE   OF   CHRISTIANITY. 

her  by  the  hand  and  rebukes  the  disease :  the  fever  flies  at  his 
command,  the  woman  rises  and  attends  to  her  household  duties  as 
usual.  A  bhnd  man  happens  to  meet  with  Jesus  and  begs  for  the 
rfestoration  of  his  sight.  Jesus  touches  his  eyes,  immediately  the 
film  that  had  for  years  drawn  its  dark  curtain  over  them  is  dispel- 
led, and  the  world  again  flashes  upon  his  sight.  At  another  time 
Jesus  happens  to  meet  a  funeral  procession,  attended  with  extraor- 
dinary lamentation  and  woe  ;  he  learns  that  a  heart-broken  widow 
is  following  the  dead  body  of  her  only  son  to  the  tomb.  He  orders 
the  bier  to  be  stopped  ;  he  uncovers  the  corpse,  and  commands  the 
dead  to  rise.  Immediately  the  current  of  life  resumes  its  flow, 
the  pale  cheek  reddens,  the  lungs  breathe,  the  eyes  open,  the 
limbs  move,  the  soul  resumes  its  tabernacle  of  clay,  and  the  poor 
widow  embraces  her  recovered  son. 

Such  a  coincidence  between  the  word  of  a  man,  and  the  forth- 
coming of  an  event, — between  the  command  of  a  mortal  and  the 
obedience  of  nature, — if  it  happened  once  would  be  deemed  ex- 
traordinary ;  if  twice  in  succession,  wonderful ;  if  ten  times  or  a 
hundred  times  without  a  failure,  certainly  miraculous.  And  justly 
would  it  so  appear ;  for  although  such  a  coincidence  might  once 
or  possibly  twice  occur  by  chance ;  yet  that  it  should  continue  to 
happen  regularly  a  dozen  and  even  hundreds  of  times,  is  a  sure 
indication  of  supernatural  power. 

If  further  proof  were  required  that  such  coincidences  could  not 
be  accidental,  it  could  easily  be  afforded  by  reducing  the  argu- 
ment to  a  mathematical  form,  as  I  did  when  discussing  the  force 
of  testimony.  Take  for  instance  the  case  in  which  the  wind 
ceased  at  the  command  of  Jesus.  A  violent  gust  of  wind  in  full 
blast  might  chance  to  fall  on  a  sudden  when  a  man  uttered  a 
command  that  it  should  ;  but  you  will  admit  this  to  be  so  improba- 
ble, that  it  could  not  be  expected  to  happen  oftener  than  one  time 
in  a  hundred.  So  a  high  fever,  as  it  does,  though  very  rarely, 
happen  to  cease  all  at  once  without  apparent  cause,  might  possi- 
bly happen  once  in  a  thousand  times  to  do  so  at  the  moment  when 
a  certain  man  called  at  the  house  and  rebuked  the  disease.  If  we 
assume  these  numbers  as  correctly  expressing  the  improbability 
of  the  two  coincidences  taken  singly,  then  it  would  follow  that 
the  two  could  happen  in  succession  only  once  in  a  hundred  thou- 
sand times  that  the  trial  should  be  made.  If  we  suppose  again 
that  a  person  who  has  been  for  hours  apparently  dead,  would 
chance  to  revive  at  the  moment  when  a  certain  man  met  the  fu- 


MIRACLES,    AS  AN  EVIDENCE   OF   CHRISTIANITY.  89 

neral  procession  and  commanded  the  dead  to  rise,  as  often  as  once 
in  ten  thousand  times  ;  then  compounding  this  case  with  the  other 
two,  the  three  would  not  successively  occur  by  chance  oftener 
than  once  in  ten  thousand  times  one  hundred  thousand  times ; 
that  is  once  in  a  thousand  millions  of  times.  Such  then  is  the 
degree  of  improbability  that  lies  against  the  supposition  of  acci- 
dental coincidence  in  only  three  out  of  hundreds  of  similar  cases 
recorded  or  alluded  to  in  the  Gospels.  How  then  can  any  man 
imagine  that  all  these  cases  should  be  the  result  of  accidental  co- 
incidence between  the  acts  of  our  Saviour  and  the  apparently 
miraculous  effects  that  immediately  followed? 

Had  Jesus  failed  in  many  instances  or  even  in  a  few,  when  he 
attempted  to  produce  such  wonderful  effects,  the  argument  would 
lose  much  of  its  force,  but  as  not  a  single  failure  appeal^  to  have 
occurred,  we  must  reject  the  hypothesis  of  accidental  coincidence 
as  utterly  absurd. 

But  there  is  another,  which  may  be  reasonably  applied  to  many 
reported  cases  of  miraculous  healing,  and  which  deserves  there- 
fore to  be  respectfully  considered  in  the  present  argument. 

The  hypothesis  is  that  the  faiih  and  imagination  of  the  pa- 
tient, often  have  a  wonderful  effect  upon  the  disease,  and  some- 
times produce  a  cure  when  ordinary  remedies  fail. 

This  is  true,  and  what  seems  to  give  the  hypothesis  more  appli- 
cability to  the  miraculous  cures  related  in  the  Gospels,  is  that 
Jesus  often  required  faith  in  his  power  to  heal,  as  a  condition  on 
which  he  would  undertake  the  cure  (Matt.  viii.  10;  ix.  22.  Mark 
X.  52). 

But  however  plausible  this  hypothesis  may  at  first  sight  appear, 
a  little  examination  will  prove  that  it  cannot  throw  even  a  doubt 
upon  the  miraculous  nature  of  our  Saviour's  mighty  works. 

It  may  sufficiently  account  for  some  extraordinary  cures  per- 
formed among  superstitious  people,  by  faith  in  the  relics  of  a  dead 
saint,  or  in  the  prayers  of  some  austere  fanatic,  believed  to  have 
miraculous  power; — but  in  reference  to  the  miracles  of  Christ,  it 
is  either  inapplicable,  or  where  applicable  yet  inadequate  to  solve 
the  phenomena. 

In  many  of  Christ's  miracles,  faith  and  imagination  could  have 
no  effect,  as  when  Christ  himself  "walked  the  waves," — when  he 
multiplied  the  loaves  and  fishes  in  the  wilderness, — when  he  raised 
the  unconscious  dead,  and  when  he  was  himself  raised  from  the 
dead.     And  in  many  cases  in  which  the  subject  of  the  miracle 


90  MIRACLES,    AS  AN    EVIDENCE   OF   CHRISTIANITY. 

could  exercise  faith,  tlie  effect  was  too  great  and  too  sudden  to  be 
ascribed  to  this  cause.  How  could  faith  suddenly  dispel  the  cat- 
aract from  a  blind  man's  eyes,  or  instantaneously  infuse  perfect 
health  and  vigor  into  the  half-dead  members  of  a  bed-ridden 
paralytic  ? 

Respecting  the  healing  power  of  faith  and  imagination,  it  should 
be  observed  that  it  operates  by  producing  strong  emotions,  by 
which  the  vital  energy  is  increased  and  salutary  effects  are  often, 
but  not  always  produced.  As  most  medicines  are  liable  to  failure, 
so  it  is  with  faith  as  a  curative  agent.  In  some  cases  it  effects  a 
complete  cure  either  speedily  or  slowly  ;  in  others  it  produces  only 
partial  and  temporary  relief;  and  in  others  again  it  wholly  fails 
to  benefit  the  patient.  Some  diseases  too  are  beyond  the  reach 
of  its  influence. 

Now  the  fact,  according  to  the  gospel  narrative,  that  in  every 
case  and  in  every  sort  of  ailment,  the  cure  was  immediate  and 
perfect,  demonstrates  that  the  cures  ascribed  to  Jesus  Christ  could 
not  have  been  effected  by  any  degree  of  faith  or  any  workings  of 
the  imagination  in  those  who  were  healed  :  and  the  additional  fact 
that  in  not  a  few  cases,  no  faith  or  fancy  could  operate  at  all,  is 
conclusive  evidence,  that  if  the  gospel  narrative  be  true,  Christ 
did  possess  miraculous  power,  and  to  this  power  alone  should  we 
ascribe  all  his  mighty  works. 

But  if  so,  why  did  he  in  some  instances  require  faith  in  those 
upon  whom  he  exercised  his  healing  power  ?  This  may,  I  think,  be 
reasonably  accounted  for  without  supposing  that  he  depended  in 
any  case  on  the  patient's  faith  for  his  ability  to  effect  a  cure. 

Many  of  his  vi^orks  were  intended,  not  merly  to  prove  his  Divine 
mission,  but  to  teach  moral  lessons  of  the  highest  importance. 
There  is  an  obvious  analogy  between  the  nature  of  his  miracles 
and  the  object  of  his  mission.  His  miracles  were  works  of  salva- 
tion ;  his  mission  was  to  save  sinners.  His  w^orks  of  Divine 
power  were  illustrations  of  Divine  mercy.  He  manifested  his 
power  to  redeem  men  from  their  iniquities  by  redeeming  them 
from  the  evils  of  mortality.  But  whilst  he  could  save  their  lives 
and  restore  their  health  by  a  physical  operation  on  their  bodies, 
he  could  save  their  souls  only  by  a  moral  operation  upon  their 
spiritual  nature  through  the  medium  of  faith.  To  inculcate  the 
necessity  of  faith  in  him  as  the  Saviour  of  the  soul,  he  also 
required  that  applicants  for  his  healing  power  should  profess  their 
confidence  in  his  ability  to  save  them  from  disease  and  death. 


MIRACLES,   AS  AN  EVIDENCE   OF  CHRISTIANITY.  91 

This  was  conformable  to  his  usual  mode  of  teaching.  He  made 
all  the  incidents  of  his  ministry  and  all  the  occurrences  of  life  the 
means  of  conveying  moral  instruction.  He  required  faith  of  those 
who  came  to  him  for  health  and  life,  because  he  also  required 
faith  of  those  who  should  come  to  him  for  salvation  from  spiritual 
disease  and  death. 

No  more  needs  be  said  to  prove  that  the  mighty  works  ascribed 
to  Jesus  Christ  were  real  miracles.  If  these  works  or  any  of 
them  were  truly  reported  by  the  evangelists,  then  they  afford 
evident  signs  of  the  Divine  mission  of  our  Saviour,  and  of  the 
Divine  authority  of  his  gospel. 

But  before  we  can  reasonably  believe  the  gospel  on  this  evidence, 
we  must  have  satisfactory  proof  of  the  authenticity  and  substan- 
tial truth  of  the  evangelical  records  in  which  these  miracles  are 
related.  I  say,  their  substantial  truth  ;  for  if  we  have  reason  to 
believe  that  Christ  wrought  any  such  miracles  as  are  recorded  in 
the  Gospels,  we  shall  have  sufficient  ground  of  belief  in  his  Divine 
mission,  although  the  Gospels  should  appear  to  contain  the  usual 
portion  of  error  to  which  historical  records  are  subject. 

I  come  now  in  the  last  place  to  investigate  the  proof  on  which 
our  belief  in  the  miraculous  power  and  Divine  mission  of  Jesus 
Christ  is  founded.  The  question  is.  Have  ice  sufficient  evidence 
of  the  substantial  truth  of  the  evangelical  records  to  overcome 
the  intrinsic  improbability  of  the  miraculous  events  which  they 
relate  7 

The  amount  of  evidence  required  will  depend  on  the  degree  of 
improbability  to  be  overcome.  According  to  the  theoretical  prin- 
ciples laid  down  in  the  former  part  of  this  discourse,  a  miracle  is 
necessarily  an  improbable  event,  and  requires  for  its  establishment 
a  greater  amount  of  proof  than  a  common  event,  and  so  much 
the  greater  as  the  nature  and  circumstances  of  the  miracle  render 
it  more  itnprobable.  But  we  must  observe  that  in  this  case  the 
amount  of  proof  needs  not  to  be  augmented  in  proportion  to  the 
number  and  variety  of  miracles  ascribed  to  Jesus  Christ ;  for  you 
will  readily  admit  that  if  he  had  power  to  work  miracles  at  all,  he 
could  as  easily  work  many  as  few,  and  great  miracles  as  small ; 
because  when  the  Divine  power  interposes  to  produce  supernatural 
events,  we  readily  understand  that  some  great  occasion  has  arisen, 
and  that  God  will  probably  multiply  and  vary  his  signs,  so  as  to  make 
them  evident  to  the  senses  and  understanding  of  all  observers. 
Also  by  exhibiting  them  at  divers  times  and  places,  and  in  a  vari- 


92  MIRACLES,   AS  AN"   EVIDENCE   OF   CHRISTIANITY. 

ety  of  forms,  they  would  be  more  susceptible  of  proof  and  better 
fulfil  the  great  design  for  which  they  were  exhibited.  Hence,  the 
improbability  of  Christ's  miracles  is  rather  diminished  than  in- 
creased by  the  number  and  variety  of  those  ascribed  to  him. 

Further  to  estimate  the  degree  of  their  improbability,  we  ought 
to  consider  the  professed  object  for  which  the  Deity  was  said  to 
have  interposed,  the  character  of  the  person  through  whom  he 
was  said  to  have  wrought  miracles,  the  doctrines  which  that 
person  professed  to  confirm  by  signs  from  God,  the  sort  of  mirac- 
ulous signs  which  he  is  supposed  to  have  exhibited,  and  any  other 
circumstances  by  which  a  reasonable  man  could  judge  what  degree 
of  improbabihty  should  be  assigned  to  the  facts  for  which  testi- 
mony is  adduced. 

What  then  is  the  object  for  which  God  is  supposed  to  have  en- 
dowed Jesus  Christ  with  miraculous  power?  No  less  an  object 
than  this,  to  introduce  a  new  and  holy  religion  for  mankind 
through  the  agency  of  his  own  Son,  who  was  to  confirm  it  and 
render  it  efficacious  by  the  sacrifice  of  himself;  and  by  which 
mankind  might  be  saved  from  the  errors  of  idolatry,  the  preva- 
lence of  sin,  and  the  ignorance  under  which  they  labored  respect- 
ing their  future  destiny.  Surely,  if  ever  the  Father  of  mankind 
should  exhibit  in  this  world  the  miraculous  tokens  of  a  revelation 
from  himself,  it  would  be  for  an  object  like  this, — to  bring  life  and 
immortality  to  light, —to  disperse  the  dark  clouds  of  superstition, 
and  open  to  his  erring  and  sinful  creatures  the  pathway  to  peace 
on  earth  and  glory  in  heaven. 

And  what  sort  of  person  was  he,  through  whom,  as  the  Gospels 
tell  us,  these  miraculous  signs  were  given,  and  this  revelation  of 
light  and  mercy  was  sent?  Do  they  so  represent  his  character 
and  actions,  as  to  make  it  credible  that  he  should  be  honored 
with  this  Divine  mission  and  endowed  with  miraculous  power  ? 

According  to  the  programme  of  this  course  of  lectures,  another 
has  assigned  to  him  the  delightful  task  of  portraying  the  character 
of  Jesus  of  Nazareth.  Suffice  it  to  say  here  that  by  the  acknowl- 
edgment even  of  infidels,  if  ever  a  human  being  was  worthy  to 
represent  the  moral  majesty  and  goodness  of  our  Father  in  heaven, 
the  Jesus  of  the  gospel  is  that  man  ;  who  without  the  vain  pomp, 
and  glory  of  the  world,  or  any  circumstance  which  could  dazzle 
to  blind,  presents  a  character  so  morally  pure,  so  humanly  amia- 
ble, and  yet  so  divinely  great,  that  neither  the  examples  of  his- 
tory, nor  the  ideal  portraitures  of  genius,  have  ever  exhibited  his 


MIRACLES,   AS  AN  EVIDENCE  OF   CHRISTIANITY.  93 

parallel.  With  a  soul  as  gentle  as  the  dews  that  fell  upon  Mount 
Hermon,  all  melting  with  pity  for  the  sorrows  of  humanity,  all 
forgetful  of  self,  and  regardless  of  worldly  applause  and  pomp 
and  power,  he  possessed  a  fortitude  which  nothing  could  break, — 
a  patience  which  nothing  could  exhaust, — a  zeal  for  the  cause  of 
God,  which  glowed  like  a  star  of  heaven,  a  philanthropy  which 
could  sacrifice  both  honor  and  life  for  the  welfare  of  man, — and 
withal  a  heaven-taught  wisdom  which  confounded  the  subtlety 
of  lawyers  and  scribes,  separated  the  good  from  the  bad  in  religion 
and  morals,  and  produced  a  system  of  doctrines,  worthy  to  have 
emanated  from  God  whose  glory  they  display,  and  worthy  to  be 
accepted  by  man,  who,  if  he  would  hope  for  heaven's  bliss,  must 
find  it  through  the  religion  of  Jesus  Christ,  or  despair  of  it  forever : 
for  if  such  a  teacher  as  Christ,  and  such  principles  of  piety  and 
moraUty  as  he  taught  cannot  guide  us  aright, — then  where — oh 
where  in  all  the  earth  shall  we  look  for  a  heaven-taught  "Guide 
to  everlasting  life  through  all  this  gloomy  vale  ?" 

What  shall  we  say  then?  Does  the  character  of  Jesus  Christ 
— does  the  religion  which  he  taught — reflect  discredit  upon  the 
miraculous  power  ascribed  to  him?  Is  there  anything  in  the 
miracles  of  mercy  recorded  in  the  evangelical  histories — any  in- 
congruity, any  want  of  dignity,  any  sign  of  imposture,  or  any 
circumstance  whatsoever,  that  should  make  them  either  intrinsi- 
cally or  circumstantially  more  improbable  than  miracles  must  of 
necessity  be  ?  May  I  not,  on  the  contrary,  affirm,  that  of  all  the 
reported  miracles  in  the  annals  of  the  world,  those  ascribed  to 
Jesus  Christ  are  in  their  nature  and  their  circumstances  the  least 
improbable,  and  therefore  require  the  least  amount  of  proof  to 
render  them  credible  ? 

But  do  not  mistake  my  meaning.  I  do  not  offer  the  character 
of  Christ  and  of  his  doctrines  as  affording  any  proof  whatsoever 
of  his  miraculous  power  or  of  the  truth  of  Christianity.  My 
present  object  is  not  to  prove  his  miracles,  but  to  estimate  in  a 
general  way  the  degree  of  improbability  attached  to  them,  and 
consequently  the  amount  of  proof  requisite  to  overcome  that  im- 
probability and  to  justify  our  belief  of  his  Divine  mission.  In 
the  first  part  of  my  lecture,  in  which  I  discussed  the  theory  of  the 
subject,  I  showed  that  all  reported  and  all  conceivable  miracles 
are  not  equally  improbable.  The  degree  of  their  improbabihty 
t'aries  according  to  the  nature,  the  circumstances  and  the  occa- 
on.     I   leave   it  now  to  your  candid  judgment  to  determine 


94  MIRACLES,    AS   AN   EVIDENCE   OF   CHRISTIANITY. 

whether  the  miracles  ascribed  to  Jesus  Christ  be  more  or  less  im- 
probable than  the  generality  of  those  which  have  been  reported 
in  ancient  and  in  modern  times. 

I  come  now  to  consider  the  evidence  by  which  the  miracles  of 
Christ  are  supported. 

Not  having  witnessed  them  ourselves,  we  must  rely  upon  the 
testimony  of  others  who  professed  to  have  been  eye-witnesses. 
But  as  Jesus  Christ  lived  upwards  of  1800  years  ago,  we  have  to 
rely  upon  written  documents  for  all  the  facts.  All  the  evidence 
is  to  us  historical.  The  great  distance  at  which  we  are  separated 
from  the  original  witnesses  of  "  what  Jesus  did  and  taught,"  may 
seem  to  weaken  the  evidence  so  much  as  to  make  it  inadequate 
to  prove  a  miracle.  But  notwithstanding  the  wide  interval  of 
time,  we  are  in  fact  within  a  step  or  two  of  the  original  testimony. 
A  single  step  takes  us  back  about  1800  years  to  the  publication 
of  the  New  Testament  records,  especially  to  the  four  evangelical 
histories  of  Jesus  Christ,  purporting  to  have  been  written  partly 
by  eye-witnesses  of  his  acts,  and  partly  by  contemporaries  who 
professed  to  derive  their  information  from  original  witnesses. 

The  first  step  is  to  ascertain  the  authenticity  of  these  records. 
This  being  done,  we  have  reached  the  testimony  of  the  original 
witnesses :  then  the  only  remaining  question  will  be.  Has  their 
testimony  sufficient  force  to  overcome  the  improbability  of  the 
miraculous  facts  which  they  profess  to  have  witnessed  1 

Respecting  the  authenticity  of  the  evangelical  records,  I  must 
pass  it  over  with  a  brief  remark  or  two,  because  I  have  not  time 
to  discuss  it,  and  because  that  will  be  done  by  another  lecturer 
from  whom  you  doubtless  will  hear  a  satisfactory  argument  on 
the  subject.  I  will  only  remark,  that,  according  to  all  accounts  in 
every  age,  from  the  first  century  downwards  to  this  day,  the  fouf 
gospels  and  most  of  the  other  books  of  the  New  Testament  were 
considered  on  all  hands  as  being  genuine  documents  of  apostolica. 
times,  and  as  containing  true  accounts  of  what  the  apostles  and 
other  primitive  Christians  j'e/jor/ec?  concerning  the  acts  and  doc- 
trines of  Jesus  Christ. 

I  shall  take  it  for  granted,  therefore,  not  only  that  the  twelve 
Apostles  who  first  preached  the  gospel,  professed  to  be  eye-witness- 
es of  what  Jesus  did  and  taught,  but  also  that  we  have  in  the 
New  Testament  a  substantially  correct  account  of  what  they  and 
other  primitive  Christians  testified  respecting  Jesus  Christ. 

But  before  we  consider  the   credibility  of  these  original  wit- 


MIRACLES,   AS  AN  EVIDENCE   OF   CHRISTIANITY.  95 

nesses,  we  must  remove  an  objection  which  infidels  have  fre- 
quently urged  against  the  evangelical  records  of  their  testimony. 
No  one  pretends  to  dispute  the  sufficiency  of  these  records  to  es- 
tablish a  number  of  leading  facts.  Few  even  of  the  French  infi- 
dels have  denied  that  such  a  man  as  Jesus  of  Nazareth  lived 
and  taught  and  was  crucified ;  and  that  twelve  men  called  his 
apostles  professed  to  have  witnessed  his  mighty  works  and  his 
resurrection  from  the  dead  ;  and  that  on  the  strength  of  their  tes- 
timony they  did  with  much  labor  and  suffering  make  many  con- 
verts and  found  many  churches  in  different  countries,  and  that 
the  four  Gospels  are  authentic  records  of  what  was  reported  among 
Christians  in  apostoUcal  times  respecting  the  life  and  miracles  of 
Jesus. 

So  far  there  is  no  dispute  worth  noticing  between  believers  and 
unbelievers  in  the  Divine  mission  of  Christ.  But  the  unbelievers 
object  to  the  four  evangelists,  that  they  disagree  in  their  state- 
ments, and  as  two  of  them  were  apostles,  and  the  other  two  were 
companions  of  apostles,  the  inference  is  that  the  twelve  apostles 
disagreed  in  their  testimony,  and  are  therefore  unworthy  of 
credit. 

The  truth  of  the  matter  is  this  :  when  we  compare  the  foui 
evangelists  we  find  a  general  and  substantial  agreement  in  all 
their  narratives ;  but  they  differ  in  several  respects. 

1.  Some  relate  facts  which  others  wholly  omit :  this  argues  no 
disagreement,  since  none  of  them  profess  to  relate  all  the  facts 
relative  to  their  subject. 

2.  They  differ  somewhat  in  the  order  of  the  facts  related  :  but 
neither  does  this  argue  anything  to  their  discredit,  since  they 
do  not  profess  to  give  those  facts  in  the  order  in  which  they  oc- 
curred. 

3.  In  their  account  of  the  same  facts,  not  only  does  one  relate 
circumstances  which  another  omits — as  the  most  veracious  wit- 
nesses and  narrators  are  apt  to  do — but  in  a  few  instances  they 
relate  the  same  circumstances  differently.  Thus  for  example,  in 
their  accounts  of  the  Saviour's  resurrection,  whilst  they  agree 
fully  in  regard  to  every  material  fact,  they  relate  several  of  the 
circumstances  differently.  Take  one  of  them  as  an  illustration 
of  the  whole.  Whilst  they  all  agree  that  Jesus  rose  from  the 
tomb  early  in  the  morning,  and  that  Mary  Magdalene  came  early 
to  the  tomb  and  discovered  that  he  was  not  there,  yet  they  differ 
as  to  the  precise  time  of  her  coming.     Matthew  says  that  she 


96  MIRACLES,    AS  AN   EVIDENCE   OF   CHRISTIANITY. 

came  when  the  day  began  to  dawn ; — Mark  says  that  she  arrived 
there  at  sunrise ; — Luke  says  less  definitely  that  it  was  "  very 
early  in  the  morning  ;" — and  John  says  that  it  "  was  yet  dark." 
Such  are  the  variations  of  the  evangelists  in  regard  to  this  cir- 
cumstance :  and  what  is  the  amount  of  discrepance  among  them? 
I  answer,  Little  or  nothing ;  for  if  you  suppose  that  John  by 
its  being  yet  dark  meant  a  dusky  twilight,  and  that  Mark  by 
"sunrise"  meant  a  clear  twilight,  such  as  occurs  when  the  sun's 
rays  first  touch  the  high  mountains,  and  then  alk)w  for  the  time 
that  Mary  Magdalene  was  on  the  way,  perhaps  a  mile  in  length, 
and  surely  there  is  nothing  here  over  which  a  man  should  blow 
the  trumpet  of  infidelity.  And  as  to  the  other  circumstance,  that 
John  mentions  Mary  Magdalene  alone  on  this  occasion,  and  that 
the  others  mention  another  Mary  as  having  gone  with  her,  it  is 
merely  an  instance  of  omission  by  one  evangelist  of  what  another 
mentions.  Mary  Magdalene  was  the  one  to  whom  alone  Jesus 
showed  himself  on  that  occasion  :  therefore  John  names  her  alone 
in  his  account  of  the  matter. 

Tliese  variations  in  the  evangelical  histories,  instead  of  invali- 
dating, serve  rather  to  confirm  the  substantial  t.ruth  of  their  nar- 
ratives ;  for  they  show  that  the  authors  did  not  copy  from  one 
another,  but  wrote  independently  and  drew  their  information  from 
independent  sources.  Who  does  not  know^  that  the  most  truthful 
witnesses,  when  they  testify  what  they  have  observed  respecting 
the  same  event,  always  differ  in  the  same  manner  in  their  state- 
ments. An  exact  agreement  in  every  particular  would  raise  a 
strong  presumption  that  they  borrowed  of  one  another,  instead  of 
giving  independent  testimony. 

There  is  no  reason,  therefore,  to  doubt  that  we  have  in  the  four 
evangelists  a  substantially  true  report  of  what  the  twelv'e  apostles 
testified  respecting  the  life  and  miracles  of  Jesus  Christ.  The  sim- 
ple, unaffected,  truthful  manner  in  which  they  tell  the  wonderful 
story,  adds  no  little  to  their  credibility.  And  finally,  as  no  other  or 
contradictory  account  of  what  the  apostles  preached  has  ever  been 
heard  of  among  ancient  records  or  traditions,  I  feel  authorized  to 
assume  that  we  have  the  recorded  testimony  of  the  apostles  in  the 
New  Testament.  I  may  also  assume  that  we  have  there  a  sub- 
stantially true  history,  so  far  as  it  goes,  of  what  the  apostles  did 
and  suffered  as  witnesses  for  Christ,  as  well  as  what  they  testified 
respecting  his  doctrine  and  miracles. 


MIRACLES,    AS   AN   EVIDENCE   OP   CHRISTIANITY.  97 

Let  us  now  consider  what  credit  is  due  to  their  testiinoii)'^  as 
competent,  as  honest,  and  as  independent  witnesses. 

First,  then,  were  the}-  competent  to  give  us  a  correct  account  of 
such  miraculous  events  as  we  find  recorded  in  the  Gospels?  Were 
they  sufficiently  intelligent,  accurate,  and  cautious  observers  to 
raise  them  above  the  suspicion  of  having  been  deluded,  either  by 
the  arts  of  another,  or  by  their  own  stupid  credulity  ? 

The}^  were,  it  is  true,  but  simple  and  unlearned  men,  they  had 
nothing  of  the  philosopher  or  the  skeptic  about  tliern,  but  the} 
were,  nevertheless,  as  their  own  candid  writings,  and  the  writings 
of  others  about  them,  plainly  show,  men  of  good,  sober,  common 
sense ;  on  some  points  rather  hard  to  convince,  especially  in  re- 
gard to  the  great  miracle  on  which  the  truth  of  Christianity 
mainly  depends,  that  is,  the  resurrection  of  their  crucified  master. 
There  is  nothing  that  indicates  a  want  of  competency  on  their 
part  to  observe  and  report  with  accuracy  such  facts  as  are  record- 
ed in  the  Gospels. 

Be  it  observed,  that  we  do  not  depend  on  their  testimony  for 
anything  but  simple  facts,  open  to  the  senses,  and  requiring 
nothing  but  the  sober  senses  and  common  memory  of  mankind  to 
observe  and  to  report.  Give  us  these  and  we  can  judge  for  our- 
selves, whether  there  was  any  fraud  in  the  exhibition,  or  any  mir- 
acle in  the  facts  exhibited. 

Let  us  take  for  illustration,  the  case  of  the  paralytic,  of  whicii 
we  have  an  account  in  the  2d  chapter  of  Mark.  What  were  the 
facts  and  circumstances  that  presented  themselves  to  the  witness- 
es? Simply  these:  when  Jesus  is  preaching  to  a  crowded  house 
in  Capernaum,  four  men  come  to  the  place,  bearing  a  helpless 
paralytic  on  a  bed.  Unable  to  press  in  through  the  dense  crawd^ 
they  have  to  mount  the  low  roof  of  the  house  and  to  let  tlieir 
patient  down  before  the  feet  of  Jesus,  and  consequently  also  in  full 
view  of  many  who  were  present.  "  When  Jesus  saw  their  faith. 
he  said  to  the  sick  of  the  palsy,  Son,  thy  sins  be  forgiven  thee."' 
Some  scribes  were  sitting  there,  who  inwardly  charged  him  with 
blasphemy,  in  assuming  the  Divine  prerogative  of  forgiving  sins. 
Jesus  then  put  the  question  to  them,  "  Whether  is  it  easier  to  say 
to  the  sick  of  the  palsy.  Thy  sins  be  forgiven  thee,  or  to  say. 
Arise,  take  up  thy  bed  and  walk."  Then  he  commanded  the 
patient  to  rise,  take  up  his  bed  and  go  home,  and  (says  Mark) 
immediately  he  arose,  took  up  his  bed,  and  went  forth  before  them 

7 


98  MIRACLES,    AS  AN   EVIDENCE   OF   CHRISTIANITY. 

all ;  insomuch  that  they  were  all  amazed,  and  glorified  God,  say- 
ing, We  never  saw  it  in  this  fashion. 

Such  were  the  facts  of  the  case,  according  to  the  testimony  of 
tlie  witnesses.  Could  not  a  fisherman  observe  and  relate  those 
facts  as  truly  and  as  accurately  as  a  philosopher  ?  We  care  not 
how  the  witnesses  reasoned  about  them.  Let  us  know  all  the 
material  facts — all  that  they  saw  and  iieard,  and  we  can  do  the 
reasoning  for  ourselves ;  and  thus  it  is,  that  like  a  lawyer  before  a 
court,  I  argue  that  the  witnesses  in  this  case  could  not  have  been 
deluded  in  respect  to  what  they  saw  and  heard  ;  for  the  facts 
were  as  plain  and  evident  to  the  senses  as  any  in  the  world,  and 
were  exhibited  in  open  day  before  a  throng  of  spectators  almost 
touching  the  paralytic,  and  some  of  them  scribes,  disposed  to 
watch  and  find  fault  with  every  act  of  Jesus.  Nor  can  we  pre- 
sume that  they  were  imposed  on  by  a  pretended  paralytic.  He 
was  no  doubt  a  man  of  the  same  town,  known  to  some  of  those 
present.  His  looks  and  actions  would  also  have  betrayed  him, 
had  he  attempted  a  deception.  Had  Jesus  undertaken  to  delude 
people  with  a  false  paralytic  and  a  false  cure,  he  would  not  have 
chosen  to  try  the  experiment  in  open  day  before  such  a  crowd  of 
witnesses,  and  in  a  town  where,  according  to  the  evangelists,  he 
had  many  enemies. 

Whether  the  cure  was  miraculous  or  not,  every  one  may  judge 
for  himself  All  that  we  want  from  the  witnesses  are  the  facts  as 
they  occurred.  The  apostles  were  surely  competent  to  give  them. 
Therefore  no  objection  can  lie  against  the  witnesses  on  the  score 
of  competency. 

The  next  question  is  in  respect  to  their  honesty  or  disposition 
to  tell  the  truth.  This  is  the  main  point.  If  we  can  rely  upon 
the  conscientious  veracity  of  the  apostles,  their  testimony  respect- 
ing plain,  simple  matters  of  fact,  like  those  just  mentioned  respect- 
ing the  cure  of  the  paralytic,  must  have  great  weight. 

We  must  judge  of  the  honesty  of  the  apostles,  as  we  judge  of 
all  ancient  men, — that  is,  by  their  actions  as  recorded  in  history, 
by  their  writings  and  speeches,  by  the  opinions  of  those  who  knew 
them,  and  by  circumstances  from  which  something  may  be  inferred 
concerning  them.  In  one  way  or  another,  we  have,  I  think,  all  the 
evidence  necessary  to  enable  us  to  form  a  well-grounded  judgment 
of  the  apostles. 

And  first,  I  may  assert,  negatively,  that  there  is  no  evidence  of 
any  sort  that  tends  to  convict  the  apostles  of  dishonesty,  worldly 


MIRACLES,   AS  AN   EVIDENCE   OF   CHRISTIANITY.  99 

ambition,  hypocrisy,  deceit,  covetousness,  or  any  base  or  selfish 
design  in  their  labors  as  missionaries  of  Jesus  Christ.  All  the  evi- 
dence that  we  have,  goes  to  establish  their  sincerity  and  disinter- 
estedness. Their  own  writings,  and  all  that  others  wrote  of  them 
in  their  own  time  and  country,  bear  them  witness  that  they  fully 
believed  Jesus  Christ  to  be  the  Son  of  God  and  Saviour  of  the 
world,  and  that  they  believed  it  on  the  evidence  of  his  miracles 
wrought  in  their  presence,  and  especially  on  Ihe  evidence  of  his 
resurrection  from  the  dead. 

Let  us  consider  for  a  moment  this  miraciihini  crucis,  this  deci- 
sive miracle  of  the  resurrection,  as  affording  the  most  natural 
solution  of  the  conduct  of  the  apostles,  and  the  best  criterion  of 
their  moral  character. 

Ask  yourselves  the  question.  Did  the  apostles  believe  that  Jesus 
died  on  the  cross  and  rose  again,  or  did  they  not?  Then  reason 
on  each  supposition, — that  they  did,  and  that  they  did  not 
believe  so, — and  see  which  of  the  two  will  enable  you  to  account 
most  rationally  for  their  conduct.  Suppose,  first,  that  they  did 
believe  what  they  published  to  Jews  and  Gentiles  at  the  expense 
of  so  much  labor  and  suffering,  and  at  the  frequent  hazard  of 
their  lives  ;  then  if  they  were  sincere  good  men,  seeking  the 
glory  of  God  and  the  salvation  of  mankind,  how  natural  was 
their  conduct,  how  probable  was  all  that  others  wrote  of  them ! 
How  consistent  with  nature  and  with  truth  are  the  style  and 
matter  of  their  own  writings  !  How  easily  understood  the  origin 
and  the  institutions  of  the  church  ? 

But  again,  suppose  that  they  did  not  believe  their  own  story  of 
the  death  and  resurrection  of  Christ,  then,  how  can  you  solve  the 
problems  that  instantly  present  themselves  ?  The  voluntary 
labors  and  privations  of  the  apostles ;  their  unshaken  constancy, 
their  indomitable  fortitude,  the  unwavering  consistency  of  their 
testimony  ;  and  amidst  occasional  differences  about  personal  mat- 
ters, their  enduring  co-operation  to  the  last  in  fulfilling  their  high 
commission,  and  establishing  the  great  truth,  that  Jesus  Christ 
died  for  our  sins,  and  rose  again.  If  they  believed  not  their  own 
statements,  then  they  were  wilful  liars,  and  unprincipled  impos- 
tors :  in  that  case  they  must  have  acted  from  a  selfish  motive  ; 
they  must  have  promised  themselves  some  personal  advantage. 
But  what  motive?  What  advantage?  How  can  you  account 
for  their  conduct?  Yet  their  conduct  must  have  been  such  as 
the  New  Testament  represents  it ;  or  how  can  you  account  for 


100  MIRACLES,   AS  AN  EVIDENCE   OF  CHRISTIANITY. 

the  existence  of  the  church,  and  the  doctrines  and  institutions 
that  have  come  down  to  us  from  the  age  of  the  apostles  ? 

And  do  you  not  feel  the  force  of  St.  Paul's  reasoning  in  the  15th 
chapter  of  1st  Corinthians ;  which  is  directly  to  the  point  of  our 
argument?  "I  delivered  unto  you  first  of  all  that  Christ  died 
for  our  sins, — that  he  was  buried, — that  he  rose  again, — that  he 
was  seen  of  Cephas  (Peter),  then  of  the  twelve  apostles,  and  after 
that  of  above  500.brethi'fen  at  once;  after  that  he  was  seen  of 
James,  and  then  again  of  all  the  apostles."  So  Paul  reasons  about 
the  fact  of  the  resurrection.  Then  he  reasons  about  the  motives 
of  those  who  preached  this  fact,  "  If  Christ  be  not  risen,  then  is 
our  preaching  vain,  and  your  faith  is  also  vain  :  yea,  and  we  are 
found  false  witnesses  of  God  ;  because  we  have  testified  of  God 
that  he  raised  up  Christ."  He  adds  another  consideration.  "  If 
in  this  life  only  we  (apostles)  have  hope  in  Christ,  w^e  are  of  all 
men  most  miserable."  And  so  they  were  among  the  most  miser- 
able of  mankind ;  they  sacrificed  the  present  life  to  propagate  a 
lie,  without  a  hope  of  the  life  to  come.  .  So  they  felt,  and  so  they 
reasoned  ;  and  who  can  deny  either  the  force  of  their  reasoning, 
or  the  sincerity  of  their  belief,  tliat  Christ  had  risen  from  the  dead, 
and  become  the  first-fruits  of  them  that  slept  1 

And  with  such  evidence  as  these  twelve  men  alleged  for  the 
death  and  resurrection  of  Christ, — the  evidence  of  their  senses 
fortified  by  the  evidence  of  many  others, — who  could  doubt  ?  or 
who  could  be  mistaken  ?  The  same  men  affirmed  that  they  had 
witnessed  the  miracles  which  Christ  wrought  during  the  years  of 
his  ministry,  and  that  they  were  themselves  endowed  with  miracu- 
lous gifts  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  as  a  confirmation  of  their  testimony. 
If  they  lied  in  regard  to  the  one  fact  of  tlie  resurrection,  so  they 
did  in  regard  to  all  the  rest ;  so  that  if  they  were  not  honest  wit- 
nesses, they  were  thorough-paced  liars,  full  of  all  hypocrisy  and  de- 
ceit, and  utterly  destitute  of  moral  principle.  In  such  a  case  there 
is  no  medium.  They  cannot  be  considered  as  well-meaning  en- 
thusiasts acting  under  a  delusion  ;  nor  as  a  compound  of  the  self- 
deluded  enthusiast  and  the  wilful  impostor,  who,  believing  his  ends 
to  be  good,  beheves  that  he  may  promote  them  by  pious  frauds. 
Such  characters  have  often  appeared,  but  such  the  apostles  could 
not  have  been.  The  whole  body  of  their  ends  and  views  was 
founded  on  the  miraculous  facts  which  they  professed  to  have  wit- 
nessed, and  if  these  were  false,  all  was  false  and  wicked.  Ma- 
homet was  a  saint  compared  with  these  unscrupulous,  untiring, 


MIRACLES,    AS   AN   EVIDENCE   OF   CHRISTIANITY.  101 

unblushing,  insane,  propagators  of  lies  concerning  Jesus  Christ ; 
— lies  which  they  invented  to  impose  on  mankind  for  no  con- 
ceivable   end    of  advantage    to    themselves    or  to    others ; lies 

which  they  solemnly  affirmed  in  the  name  of  God  to  be  facts  wit- 
nessed by  themselves.  How  base,  how  thoroughly  depraved  must 
these  twelve  apostles  have  been,  if  they  were  not  honest  men  ! 
Yes,  the  whole  twelve,  without  a  single  exception,  were  thoroughly 
base  and  unprincipled.     No  bandits  were  ever  more  dishonest. 

But  on  the  supposition  that  they  were  such  abominable  liars 
and  hypocrites,  several  circumstances  are  unaccountable. 

How  shall  we  account  for  it,  that  these  lying  apostles  and  hy- 
pocritical reprobates  should  have  devised  and  propagated  a  reli- 
gion supereminently  holy  and  benevolent? — That  such  unprin- 
cipled impostors  should  have  set  forth,  as  the  Saviour  of  the 
world,  a  character  of  such  purity  and  loveliness  as  that  of  Jesus 
Christ? — That  in  everything  except  their  falsehoods  about  mir- 
acles, they  should  appear,  in  all  they  did  and  all  they  said  and 
wrote,  to  have  been  simple-hearted,  good  men,  haters  of  every- 
thing false,  deceitful,  or  any  way  dishonest? — That  they  should 
have  pointedly  condemned  all  pious  frauds, — that  is,  the  practice 
of  doing  evil  that  good  may  come,  and  of  promoting  the  glory  of 
God  by  falsehood  and  deception  ?* 

And  then  if  these  men  were  lying  impostors,  how  strange  is  it 
that  in  all  that  we  read  of  them,  especially  in  their  own  writings, 
we  should  see  such  numerous  and  evident  tokens  of  the  artless 
simplicity  of  their  character,  and  such  unmistakable  signs  of 
unaffected  zeal  for  the  glory  of  God  and  the  salvation  of  men,  and 
in  their  writings,  such  ardent  outpourings  of  the  heart,  as  could 
spring  only  from  a  deep  conviction  of  the  truth  of  what  they  in- 
culcated. I  need  not  quote  passages  from  their  writings  in  proof 
of  this :  for  you  cannot  read  any  part  of  their  epistles  and  dis- 
courses, without  perceiving  the  evident  signs  of  an  unwavering 
faith  in  Jesus  Christ  as  the  Saviour  of  the  world,  and  of  an 
ardent  zeal  for  the  salvation  of  sinners. 

Finally,  if  the  apostles  were  a  set  of  lying  impostors,  who 
banded  together  to  deceive  mankind,  how  can  you  account  for  it 
that  not  one  of  them  ever  confessed  the  imposture,  and  that 
every  one  of  them,  and  of  their  coadjutors,  adhered  to  the  false- 
hood under  every  temptation  and  trial,  and  either  suffered  mar- 

*  See  Romans  iii.  5-8.  2  Peter  ii.  1-3.  Also  Ephesians  iv.  14-25.  2  Timothy 
Hi.  10-14. 


102  MIEACLES,    AS   AN   EVIDENCE   OF   CHRISTIANITY. 

tyrclom,  or  was  ready  to  suffer  it,  in  attestation  of  these  useless 
and  unprofitable  fictions  ? 

I  conclude  that  the  apostles  could  not  have  been  such  wicked 
and  unprincipled  impostors  as  they  must  have  been,  if  they  were 
not  honest  men  and  sincere  believers  in  the  miracles,  the  resurrec- 
tion, and  the  Divine  mission  of  Jesus  Christ.  We  must  therefore 
embrace  the  alternative,  that  they  were  honest  men,  and  sincerely 
persuaded  of  the  truth  of  what  they  testified  concerning  Jesus 
Christ.  Therefore,  so  far  as  the  facts  which  they  stated  were  of  the 
natural  and  ordinary  sort,  you  and  all  rational  men  would  readily 
believe  their  testimony.  But  as  some  of  those  facts  were  miracu- 
lous and  therefore  in  their  nature  improbable,  you  may  reasona- 
bly suspend  your  belief  until  you  have  duly  considered  whether 
the  testimony  has  sufficient  weight  to  overcome  the  improbability 
of  the  facts. 

We  have  considered  the  testimony  of  the  apostles  only  so  far 
as  it  derives  weight  from  the  competency  and  honesty  of  the  wit- 
nesses. It  remains  to  consider  whether  the  testimony  derives 
any  additional  weight  from  the  independency  of  the  witnesses. 

Although  I  think  that  we  might  safely  rest  the  argument  upon 
what  has  been  already  advanced,  it  is  proper  to  consider  also 
whether  or  not  the  testimony  of  the  apostles  and  evangelists  can 
be  regarded  as  in  any  measure  independent. 

As  the  apostles  w^ere  often  together,  both  during  the  Saviour's 
ministry  and  shortly  after  his  crucifixion,  it  might  seem  at  first 
view,  that  they  cannot  be  considered  as  independent  witnesses. 
But  the  mere  fact  that  they  had  opportunities  of  communicating 
with  one  another  about  the  matter  of  their  testimony,  does  not  pre- 
clude us  from  considering  them  as  independent  witnesses.  The 
independence  of  witnesses  does  not  arise  from  their  having  no  com- 
munication with  one  another  about  the  matter  in  question,  but  on 
the  fact  that  each  witness  speaks  from  his  own  knowledge,  and 
not  from  the  suggestion  or  information  of  another.  The  circum- 
stance that  the  witnesses  have  had  no  communication  with  one 
another,  is  important  only  as  a  proof  of  their  independence.  But 
other  circumstances  may  afford  sufficient  proof  of  independence. 
When  we  perceive  that  each  witness  tells  the  story  in  his  own  way, 
agreeing  substantially,  but  not  in  all  points  circumstantially,  with 
the  rest,  this  is  a  strong  argument  of  independence  ;  especially 
when  the  manner  and  matter  of  each  one's  testimony  bear  that 
impress  of  personal  knowledge  in  the  witness,  which  is  more  easily 


MIRACLES,    AS   AN    EVIDENCE    OF   CHRISTIANITY.  103 

felt  than  described,  when  we  hear  the  testuiiony.  It  consists 
partly  in  a  certain  promptitude  and  sincerity  of  manner,  and 
partly  in  the  incidental  mention  of  minute  circumstances. 

There  is  nothing  in  the  histoiy  or  in  the  testimony  of  the  apos- 
tles inconsistent  with  the  supposition  that  they  were  independent 
witnesses.  We  have  not  on  record  the  distinct  testimony  of  every 
one:  we  must  judge,  therefore,  from  the  specimens  that  we  have. 
We  have  the  testimonies  of  Matthew  and  John  in  the  gospels 
which  they  wrote.  They  bear  infallible  evidence  that  these  two 
apostles  did  not  borrow  from  one  another,  nor  from  any  common 
source.  Mark  and  Luke  were  not  apostles  ;  but  as  their  accounts 
were  evidently  not  borrowed  from  Matthew  or  John,  but  derived 
from  independent  sources,  we  may  justly  consider  them  as  being 
at  second  hand  the  testimony  of  other  apostles  and  original  wit- 
nesses. We  have  also  in  the  Acts  and  apostolical  Epistles  fre- 
quent allusions  to  the  actions,  sufferings  and  resurrection  of  Christ, 
taken  not  from  the  four  Gospels,  but  either  from  the  personal 
knowledge  of  the  writers,  or  from  the  mouths  of  original  witnesses, 
and  therefore  favoring  the  hypothesis  of  independent  testimony. 
On  the  whole,  we  may  from  all  these  facts  conclude  that  the 
apostles  and  other  original  witnesses  testified  independently.  I 
do  not  affirm  that  the  independence  of  their  testimony  is  perfect, 
and  carries  with  it  as  much  weight  as  under  other  circumstances 
it  might  have  done.  But  your  candor  will  lead  you  to  admit,  that 
whilst  the  occasional  differences  in  small  matters  show  the  inde- 
pendence of  the  witnesses,  the  general  coincidence  in  their  testi- 
mony affords  no  small  evidence  of  its  truth,  independent  of  the 
personal  character  of  the  witnesses. 

Let  us  now  endeavor  to  sum  up  the  amount  of  the  evidence, 
and  to  form  some  notion  of  its  force.  I  shall  not  presume  to 
measure  it  with  mathematical  precision,  though  as  heretofore  I  may 
use  numbers  to  aid  our  conceptions,  without  pretending  that  they 
give  an  exact  expression  of  the  quantities  which  they  represent. 

We  have  then,  on  reliable  authority,  the  testimony  of  twelve 
competent  and  honest  witnesses  of  our  Saviour's  miracles,  and 
particularly  of  his  resurrection  from  the  dead.  Though,  for  want 
of  documents,  we  cannot  distinctly  exhibit  what  every  one  of 
these  witnesses  testified,  yet  we  have  satisfactory  evidence  that 
they  all  concurred  in  the  material  facts  and  circumstances  of 
their  testimony,  that  we  have  in  the  four  Gospels  the  sum  and 
substance  of  what  they  all  avowed  respecting  Jesus  of  Nazareth. 


104  MIRACLES,    AS   AN   EVIDENCE   OF   CHRISTIANITY, 

If  any  of  you  still  think  that  something  more  should  he  adduced 
before  we  can  rely  on  having  the  testimony  of  twelve  good  wit- 
nesses to  the  gospel  history,  then  I  refer  you  to  the  great  quan- 
tity of  auxiliary  evidence  which  the  New  Testament  records  pre- 
sent ;  for  we  can  doubtless  rely  on  these  records  for  facts  so  ordi- 
nary in  kind  and  so  probable  in  themselves,  as  the  fact  that  others, 
not  few  in  number,  besides  the  apostles,  professed  to  have  wit- 
nessed some  at  least  of  Christ's  miracles.  You  will  bear  in  mind 
that  the  apostles  began  their  preaching  and  testimony  only  a  few 
weeks  after  the  crucifixion  of  Christ ;  that  they  began  at  Jerusa- 
lem, where  he  was  crucified,  to  proclaim  his  resurrection  before 
the  multitudes  of  Jews  collected  from  all  parts  of  the  land  at  the 
great  festival  of  Pentecost ; — that  they  exercised  their  ministry 
for  several  years  in  various  parts  of  the  Holy  Land,  where  Jesus 
himself  had  travelled  and  exhibited  the  evidence  of  his  claims 
as  a  missionary  from  God  ;  and  that  not  only  had  multitudes 
gathered  around  him,  many  believed  in  his  mission,  and  many 
others,  especially  scribes  and  Pharisees,  watched  and  opposed 
him,  ascribing  his  mighty  works  to  the  devil — but  the  apostles, 
after  his  crucifixion,  going  over  the  same  ground,  and  testifying 
before  the  same  generation  the  fact  of  his  resurrection,  converted 
thousands,  and  established  numefous  churches  on  the  faith  of  his 
miracles  when  alive,  and  of  his  resurrection  after  death. 

Now  if  there  be  any  truth  in  these  statements,  which  cannot  be 
reasonably  denied,  then  the  apostles  were  far  from  being  the  only 
witnesses  who  testified  to  the  same  facts.  If  the  apostles  told  the 
truth,  many  others  must  have  corroborated  their  testimony;  if 
they  published  falsehoods,  many  others  must  have  been  able  to 
contradict  them  :  for  they  not  only  gave  the  facts  of  their  story 
specifically  and  circvunstantially,  but  they  gave  the  times  and 
places,  and  thus  exposed  them  to  decisive  investigation,  and  vir- 
tually referred  them  to  other  witnesses  for  confirmation  or  denial. 

It  is  true  that  Jesus  did  not  after  his  resurrection  show  himself 
openly  to  all  the  people.  This  would  have  been  useless,  for  he 
could  not  have  been  infallibly  recognized,  except  by  his  intimate 
acquaintances,  and  by  them  only  after  an  inspection  so  close  and 
minute  as  would  necessarily  confine  it  to  a  few  individuals.  Rec- 
ollect the  instances  recorded  in  history,  of  impostors  successfully 
passing  themselves  off  for  dead  princes,  and  how  often  you  have 
yourselves,  upon  a  shght  or  distant  view,  mistaken  one  man  for 
another. 


MIRACLES,    AS  AN  EVIDENCE   OF   CHRISTIANITY.  105 

Recollect,  also,  that  it  was  not  easy  for  the  apostles  to  be  fully 
satisfied  of  Christ's  identity  after  his  resurrection.  The  fact  was 
so  extraordinary,  so  difficult  of  belief,  that  it  was  not  until  they 
had  irresistible  evidence  of  its  reality,  that  all  their  doubts  were 
removed.  He  had  to  appear  to  thera  at  divers  times  and  in  divers 
manners  ;  to  eat  with  them,  converse  with  them,  and  submit  his 
body  to  a  tactual  examination,  before  all  of  them  were  satisfied. 
Yet  these  men  had  been  with  him  in  close  companionship  for 
years.  How  then  could  a  public  exhibition  of  himself  have  de- 
cided the  question  of  his  resurrection,  even  if  he  had  submitted 
himself  before  his  enemies  to  a  desfradin^  course  of  examinations, 
which  would  after  all  have  afforded  th.em  an  occasion  for  pretend- 
ing- that  it  was  all  a  piece  of  imposture?  Not  only  was  it  more 
consistent  with  his  dignity,  but  a  more  conclusive  mode  of  proof, 
to  verify  his  resurrection  by  first  giving  his  chosen  witnesses  in- 
fallible evidence  of  his  identity,  and  then  confirming  their  testi- 
mony by  "  signs  and  wonders,  and  divers  miracles  and  gifts  of 
the  Holy  Ghost." 

Now,  to  say  nothing  of  the  five  hundred  brethren  to  whom,  as 
St.  Paul  informs  us,  he  appeared  once  after  his  resurrection,  we 
may  affirm  that  all  who  witnessed  the  apostolical  miracles,  could 
afterwards  by  means  of  this  testimony  of  God,  confirm  the  testi- 
mony of  the  apostles  by  their  own.  When  St.  Paul,  writing  to 
the  Galatians,  appealed  to  the  miracles  which  he  had  wrought 
among  them,  would  not  the  testimony  of  these  witnesses  of  his 
miracles  afterwards  corroborate  St.  Paul's  own  testimony  respect- 
ing the  truth  of  Christianity? 

Thus  supposing  that  the  apostles  testified  what  the  New  Tes- 
tament records  uniformly  declare  that  they  did  testify,  and  sup- 
posing that  they  professed  to  confirm  their  testimony  by  miracles, 
as  the  same  records  declare, — then  if  these  records  are  not  wholly 
spurious  and  false,  which  no  one  can  reasonably  suspect,  it  fol- 
lows that  the  apostles  did  not  stand  alone  in  their  testimony. 
They  could  not  have  stood  before  unbelieving  Jews  and  Gentiles, 
in  the  same  places  and  in  the  same  years  in  which  all  those 
alleged  miracles,  Christ's  and  their  own,  were  exhibited,  if  ex- 
hibited at  all,  and  have  appealed  successfully  to  those  miracles, 
unless  others  besides  themselves  could  be  appealed  to  in  corrob- 
oration of  their  statements. 

I  conclude,  therefore,  that  we  have  for  the  miracles  of  Christ 
what  is  more  than  equivalent  to  the    estlmony  of  twelve  honest 


106  MIRACLES,    AS   AN   EVIDENCE   OF   CHRISTIANITY. 

men,  speaking  independently  from  personal  knowledge,  that 
these  men  had  no  motive  of  interest  or  of  passion  to  swerve  from 
the  truth,  that  their  conduct  and  writings  afford  the  strongest 
evidence  of  honesty  and  sincerity.  I  have  before  shown  that 
they  w^ere  fully  competent  to  observe  and  report  such  plain  facts 
as  they  relate  concerning  Jesus  Christ. 

Considering  these  things,  what  degree  of  credibility  would  you 
assigQ  to  each  apostle's  testimony,  leaving  out  of  view  the  nature 
of  the  facts  to  which  he  testifies?  How  often  do  you  think  that 
a  man  of  such  character  would,  ordinaril}^,  tell  the  truth,  before 
he  would  solemnly  bear  false  witness?  Surely,  an  upright,  con- 
scientious man  would  not,  in  ordinary  cases,  tell  less  than  ten 
thousand  truths  to  one  lie.  But  it  is  enough  and  far  more  than 
enougli,  if  we  can  assign  a  probability  of  only  one  thousand  to 
one,  for  the  truth  of  each  apostle's  testimony.  Then  the  concur- 
rence of  two  apostles  would  produce  a  probability  of  truth 
amounting  to  a  thousand  thousands,  or  a  million  to  one.  A  third 
concurring  would  again  raise  it  to  one  thousand  millions ;  a 
fourth  would  swell  it  to  a  million  millions  to  one.  The  twelve 
would  multiply  it  to  an  inconceivable  magnitude  of  evidence  in 
favor  of  Christ's  miracles.  Subtract  from  it  whatever  amount  of 
improbability  you  can  reasonably  assign  to  his  miracles,  and 
there  must  still  remain  an  immense  balance  of  evidence  for  the 
miracles  of  that  purest  and  best  of  the  sons  of  men,  Jesus  who 
died  for  our  sins  according  to  the  Scriptures. 

But  this  weight  of  evidence  will  be  greatly  augmented  if  we 
combine  with  the  character  of  the  apostles  as  honest  men,  their 
character  of  independent  witnesses,  whose  manner  of  giving  their 
testimony,  so  far  as  we  know  it  from  the  records,  shows  that  they 
did  not  borrow  from  one  another.  If  we  allow  that  only  a  few 
of  them  were  independent,  or  that  we  have  only  a  moderate 
probability  in  favor  of  the  independence  of  the  twelve  as  wit- 
nesses, then  their  testimony  will  come  with  greatly  augmented 
weight  against  the  improbability  of  the  facts. 

Should  the  result  of  my  reasonings  on  the  evidence  for  Christ's 
miracles  surprise  any  one,  because  the  weight  of  apostolic  testi- 
mony appears  to  be  astonishingly  great ;  I  refer  him  to  his  own 
experience.  Let  him  consider  this.  He  places  full  ccmlidence  in 
the  testimony  of  two  or  three  witnesses  of  common  honesty, 
when  they  concur,  when  there  is  no  opposing  testimony,  when 
they  appear  to  be  independent,  and  when  they  sacrifice  much  in 


MIRACLES,    AS   AN   EVIDENCE   OF   CHRISTIANITY.  '  107 

giving  such  testimony.  The  fact  to  which  they  testify  must  be 
exceedingly  improbable  to  raise  even  a  doubt  that  the  witnesses 
speak  the  truth.  But  suppose  that  other  witnesses  are  called, 
and  one  after  another  confirm  the  statements  of  the  former,  till 
twelve  have  testified,  and  all  the  twelve  suffer  much  in  conse- 
quence of  their  testimony,  yet  adhere  firmly  to  it  all  their  lives 
long.  Is  there  any  miracle  recorded  in  the  Gospels  which  he 
would  not  believe,  or  you  would  not  all  believe  on  such  testimony  1 
Surely  not.  Such  testimony  has  irresistible  force  upon  minds 
open  to  conviction. 

Many  in  the  apostolic  age  heard  the  testimony  of  the  apostles 
without  believing  it.  This  is  not  surprising.  They  were  im- 
bued from  the  cradle  with  other  religions  and  were  filled  with 
various  sorts  of  prejudices.  Not  many  heard  the  testimony  of 
more  than  one  or  two  apostles,  after  these  witnesses  left  Jeru- 
salem on  different  missions ;  and  the  notion  that  demons  could 
work  miracles  enabled  unbelievers  to  evade  the  force  of  evidence 
which  we  reasonably  consider  irresistible. 

Here  I  close  this  long  argument,  too  long  if  the  subject  had 
been  less  important  or  could  have  been  satisfactorily  discussed  in 
less  time.  I  was  not  willing  to  make  a  lame  and  impotent  de- 
fence of  our  religion  on  the  most  essential  part  of  its  evidence  as 
a  revelation  from  God.  I  have  been  compelled  to  omit  many 
things  which  might  be  adduced  with  advantage  to  the  argument. 

The  prophecies  of  the  Old  and  New  Testament  being  sensible 
interpositions  of  God  in  control  of  the  established  course  of 
things,  which  no  natural  causes  can  explain,  are  as  really  mi- 
raculous as  any  of  the  wonderful  works  of  our  Lord ;  and  have 
the  additional  advantage  of  being  subjected  in  their  proof  to  our 
own  observation  :  but  as  this  topic  has  been  assigned  to  another, 
I  have  of  course  entirely  omitted  it  in  the  present  discussion. 

If  what  God  has  enabled  me  to  say  shall  tend  to  strengthen 
any  man's  faith  in  the  Divine  mission  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ — 
who  loved  us  and  gave  himself  for  us — then  to  our  merciful 
Father  in  heaven  be  the  praise.     Amen. 


i 


mi- 


^rnpjinij, 


BY 

KEY.  ALEXANDER  T.  M'OILL,  D.D. 

PROFESSOR    IN   THE    WESTERN    THEOLOG  CAL 
SEMINARY,    ALLEGHANV,    I'A. 


It  will  not  be  denied,  that  sacred  prophecy  was  extant,  with 
its  text  completely  finished,  four  hundred  years  ago  ;  when  the 
Bible  was  first  printed,  with  movable  metallic  types,  by  Gut- 
temberg  of  Mentz.  The  last  four  hundred  years,  however,  have 
been  the  most  impenetrable  of  all  eras,  to  the  exercise  of  human 
foresight ;  teeming  with  more  numerous,  involved,  and  utter  con- 
tingencies, than  pervade  the  whole  duration  of  ages  before.  The 
passage  to  India  by  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope  ;  the  discovery  of  a 
western  hemisphere ;  the  great  reformation  in  Europe ;  the  revo- 
lutions in  England,  America,  and  France  ;  not  to  speak  of  magical 
changes,  by  means  of  science,  invention,  and  art ; — all  these  have 
made  the  history  of  man  a  maze  of  transformation,  compared 
with  which  the  former  times  were  vista,  obstructed  by  this  laby- 
rinth alone. 

Surely,  it  can  be  no  human  foresight,  which  could  delineate,  in 
the  lapse  of  such  a  future,  lands  devoted  to  the  exception  of  a 
curse;  and  say,  that  this  and  that  particular  country,  or  people, 
would  be  palsied  by  the  side  of  universal  progress— not  affected 
materially,  nor  affected  at  all,  by  the  extreme  vicissitudes  and 
overwhelming  emergencies  which  have  come  on  the  whole  world 
besides.  Least  of  all  would  human  sagacity  have  ventured  to 
aflfirm,  that  Egypt,  Palestine,  and  Syria  would  be  as  they  now 
are  ;  for  until  that  very  time,  these  countries  had  been  a  theatre 
of  perpetual  changes,  and  the  most  wonderful  events  that  burden 
the  pages  of  history.  Simultaneous  with  that  primitive  impres- 
sion of  the  Bible,  was  the  fall  of  Constantinople  into  the  hands 
of  the  Ottoman  Turk:  and  who,  with  less  than  superhuman 
prescience,  could  have  told,  that  here  the  waves  of  eastern  revo- 
lution would  be  stayed,  that  Turkish  turbulence  itself  would  not 
break  the  stillness  of  desolation  henceforth,  that  the  day  of  civil 
redemption  for  all  civilized  nations,  the  day  of  liberty  and  com- 
merce, art  and  science,  would  not  first  dawn,  nor  dawn  at  all,  on 


112  PEOPHECY. 

the  regions  of  rapid  and  extreme  revolution,  througli  all  previous 
time. 

Defer  then,  if  you  please,  the  whole  question  of  date,  integrity, 
and  preservation  of  these  oracles  ;  and  the  faithful  corroboration, 
with  which  all  history  details  the  facts  of  their  fulfilment,  until 
you  subject  their  minute  vaticinations  to  the  inquest  of  living 
observers,  and  the  verdict  of  journalizing  infidelit)'^  itself.  We 
have  not  only  the  general  condition  of  ruin,  yet  to  be  seen,  just  as 
the  Scriptures  foretold  it,  over  lands  wiiich  have  as  delicious  a 
climate,  and  as  fertile  a  bosom,  by  nature,  as  any  others  on  the 
face  of  the  earth — itself  conclusive  proof  that  these  prophets 
"  spake  as  they  were  moved  by  the  Holy  Ghost ;"  and  the  general 
exemption  from  change,  during  a  period  of  unparalleled  changes, 
everywhere  else,  in  lands,  which,  down  till  tire  accession  of  Mo- 
hammed the  2d,  had  been  a  battle-field  of  every  power  and  every 
principle  that  struggled  for  mastery  in  human  afTairs  —  which 
monotony  of  ruin  is  also,  of  itself,  a  miracle  in  forecast ;  but  we 
have  minute  accomplishments  of  the  ancient  letter,  within  these 
last  four  hundred  years — n.  touch  of  Providence,  here  and  there, 
upon  the  general  picture,  which  might  convince  a  skepticism,  low 
enough  to  doubt  all  evidence  anterior  to  tlie  age  of  printing. 

"The  highways  lie  waste,  the  wayfaring  man  ceaseth,"  said 
Isaiah,  in  foretelUng  the  judgments  of  God  upon  his  country:  and 
what  traveller  does  not  verify,  to  its  letter,  the  truth  of  this  pre- 
diction, since  the  Turk  established  his  empire  over  Palestine? 
"In  the  interior  of  the  country,"  says  Volney,  "  there  are  neither 
great  roads,  nor  canals,  nor  even  bridges,  over  the  greatest  part  of 
the  rivers  and  torrents,  however  necessary  they  may  be,  in  win- 
ter. Nobody  travels  alone,  for  the  insecurity  of  the  roads.  The 
roads  among  the  mountains  are  extremely  bad,  and  the  inhabit- 
ants are  so  far  from  levelling  them,  that  they  endeavor  to  make 
them  more  rugged,  in  order,  as  they  say,  to  cure  the  Turks  of 
their  desire  to  introduce  their  cavalry." 

"  Many  pastors  have  destroyed  my  vineyard,  they  have  trodden 
my  portion  under  foot,"  said  the  prophet  Jeremiah,  in  bewailing 
the  same  future  desolation.  And  Volney  has  detailed  the  accom- 
plishment, with  a  minuteness  of  description  which  no  other  testi- 
mony has  surpassed.  After  enumerating  a  long  list  of  pastoral 
marauders,  who  infest  the  whole  region  of  Syria,  in  which  he 
includes  Judea — Curds,  and  Turkomen,  and  Bedouin  Arabs — he 
informs  us,  that  the  most  sedentary  inhabitants  are  compelled  to 


PROPHECY.  113 

become  wandering  bandits,  in  self-defence,  and  that,  "under  a 
government  like  that  of  the  Turks,  it  is  safer  to  lead  a  wandering 
life,  than  to  choose  a  settled  habitation." 

"I  will  give  it  into  the  hands  of  strangers,  for  a  prey,"  said 
Ezekiel,  "  and  to  the  wicked  of  the  earth  for  a  spoil.  The  rob- 
bei^  shall  enter  into  it  and  defile  it."  "  When  the  Ottomans  took 
Syria  from  the  Mamelukes,"  says  the  infidel  tourist,  "  they  con- 
sidered it  as  the  spoil  of  a  vanquished  enemy.  The  government 
are  far  from  disapproving  of  a  system  of  robbery  and  plunder 
which  it  finds  so  profitable." 

Even  the  prophecies  of  Moses,  on  the  same  subject,  never  had 
their  accomplishment  written  out,  with  more  striking  exactness, 
than  by  the  pen  of  this  great  academician.  "The  stranger,"  says 
Moses,  "  that  cometh  from  a  far  land  shall  say,  when  they  see 
the  plagues  of  that  land,  and  the  sicknesses  which  the  Lord  hath 
laid  on  it — Wherefore  hath  the  Lord  done  this  unto  this  land — 
what  meaneth  the  heat  of  this  great  anger?"  "Good  God  !" 
exclaims  Volney,  who  did  come  from  a  far  land,  a  stranger  in 
every  sense  to  the  scene  he  surveyed — "  whence  proceed  such 
melancholy  revolutions — for  what  cause  is  the  fortune  of  these 
countries  so  strikingly  changed— why  are  so  many  cities  destroy- 
ed— why  is  not  that  ancient  population  reproduced  and  perpetu- 
ated?" 

These  are  specimens,  taken  at  random,  from  only  four  ancient 
prophets,  relating  to  a  single  topic,  restricted  to  the  latest  era  of 
fulfilment,  and  confirmed  by  the  unwilling  testimony  of  a  skeptical 
philosopher.  Evidence,  precisely  similar,  might  be  multiplied  to 
any  extent  of  modern  travel — in  regard  to  Samaria,  Judea, 
Philistia,  Tyre,  Aramon,  Edom,  Egypt — every  country  whose 
doom  is  recorded  in  prophecies  of  Scripture.  Everywhere,  minute 
and  incidental,  but  not  less  forcible  demonstrations  of  their  truth, 
have  been  enacted,  since  the  day  when  cliirography  resigned  to 
the  press  that  toil  of  transcription,  which  infidelity  is  fain  to  cover 
with  suspicion  of  unfaithfulness. 

Now,  if  enlightened  observers,  like  Volney,  are  so  much  aston- 
ished at  the  singular  and  constant  desolation  of  those  Eastern 
countries,  with  the  whole  operation  of  second  causes  fully  before 
them,  surely,  no  intelligence  of  man  could  have  ventured  four, 
(much  less  thirty)  centuries  ago,  to  draw  such  a  picture  :  not  even 
with  the  clear  anticipation  of  despotic  Islamism,  firmly  established, 
during  this  period :  for,  in  the  light  of  histor}^,  all  those  regions 


114  PROPHECY. 

wanted  to  retrieve  their  melancholy  wastes  was  rest — rest,  though 
burdened  with  tyranny  rapacious  as  that  of  Roman  procurators, 
under  whom,  according  to  Josephus,  Galilee  alone  contained  more 
than  two  hundred  towns  and  cities  crowded  with  industrious 
people. 

Geographical  accuracy  itself,  in  these  predictions,  might  be 
called  a  miracle  of  truth.  Where  is  the  author,  not  to  say  the 
score  of  authors,  from  Strabo,  to  Malte  Brun,  whose  description  of 
places  and  manners  referred  to  in  the  prophets,  though  far  less 
particular,  is  not  contradicted,  on  almost  every  page,  by  travellers 
and  v/riters  more  recent?  But  all  the  researches,  of  believers  and 
unbelievers  alike,  conducted  with  the  utmost  help  of  science,  liter- 
ature, and  leisure,  have  not  hitherto  discovered  one  mistake 
among  the  innumerable  assertions  and  allusions,  of  the  many 
authors,  in  this  holy  volume.  And  yet,  instinct  with  its  own  ag- 
gressive life  and  truth,  it  will  not  rest  in  this  freedom  from  valid 
contradiction.  Where,  from  the  poverty  of  ancient  annals,  it  had 
i)€en  left  a  lone  witness  to  facts  on  which  its  prophecy  was  based, 
in  the  luxury,  magnificence,  and  crime,  of  cities  and  countries, 
over  which  it  uttered  the  doom  we  witness  at  the  present  day ; 
and  after  it  has  waited  long  for  the  accomplishment  of  one  partic- 
ular, that  men  v/ould  not  even  know  where  that  ruined  grandeur 
reposed,  it  comes,  with  the  spirit  of  this  eager  age,  to  dig  its  ter- 
mitms  a  quo,  from  the  bov/els  of  the  earth,  or  scale  it  on  the 
desert  rock,  and  g«ide  the  hermeneutics  of  science  herself,  by  the 
!liints  of  obsolete  prophecy. 

Another  proof,  that  these  predictions  are  a  miracle,  even  if  their 
•date  could  not  be  traced  beyond  the  epoch  of  a  printed  Bible,  is 
the  condition  of  the  Jewish  people.  At  the  middle  of  the  15th 
century,  what  sagacious  diviner  among  men,  judging  from  the 
tendency  of  visible  events,  would  not  have  said,  that  the  Jews 
would  soon  become  entirely  merged  in  other  nations,  and  cease  to 
i>e  knowia  as  a  distinct  and  singular  people?  The  golden  age  of 
their  modern  learning  had  just  pre-occupied  the  admiration  of 
Europe',  and  it  was  not  the  learning  which  had  signalized  the 
palmy  days  of  ancient  Israel — historical  writing,  chronicles,  and 
genealogies,  that  were  naturally  conducive  to  their  perpetuity  as 
a  separate  family.  They  had  now  become  the  best  of  medieval 
philosophers — the  physicians,  astronomers,  and  political  econo- 
mists, of  dawning  science.  Their  poetry  itself  had  been  divorced 
from  national  traditions,  and  from  the  imagery  of  altar  and  sacri- 


PROPHECY,  115 

fice,  tabernacle  and  temple,  as  well  as  the  parallelism  of  its  He- 
brew metre  ;  and  become  localized  and  fresh,  as  the  lays  of  the 
Troubadour.  The  agricultural  industry  which  had  been  their 
ancient  pride,  and  which  more  than  any  other  pursuit  of  life, 
would  isolate  a  people,  had  been  relinquished  ;  not  for  mysteries  of 
art,  reserved  to  themselves  and  their  children;  but  for  the  busi- 
ness of  exchange,  open  and  wide  as  the  commerce  of  the  world. 
Add  to  this,  the  many  particular  facts,  which  had  just  trans- 
pired then,  especially  on  the  greatest  theatre  of  observation,  at 
that  time,  in  the  civilized  world — Catholic  Spain — where  amalga- 
mation itself  threatened  their  extinction  as  a  separate  people,  and 
inquisitors  complained,  that  almost  every  noble  family  in  the 
realm  had  become  tainted,  by  intermarriage  with  the  mala  san- 
gre  of  the  house  of  Judah,  and  where  thirty -five  thousand  converts 
from  Judaism  had  been  made,  by  the  eloquence  and  legerdemain 
of  one  St.  Vincent  Ferrier  alone.  And  yet,  the  lapse  of  four  hun- 
dred years,  intensely  working  all  the  while,  with  influences,  and 
agencies,  and  accidents,  which  have  never  failed  in  any  other 
case,  with  less  than  half  their  force,  to  annihilate  a  nation,  has 
left  them  still  a  distinct  and  singular  people.  Take  but  the  land 
of  their  fathers,  from  any  primitive  tribe  on  this  continent,  in 
North,  or  South,  or  Central  America,  and  they  fade  from  the 
earth.  No  matter  what  beautiful  lands  of  prairie  and  forest  you 
give  in  exchange,  and  what  pains  you  take,  to  perpetuate  their 
own  barbarous  tongue,  and  what  beneficence  you  exert,  to  heal 
their  diseases,  teach  their  ignorance,  and  encourage  the  arts  of 
husbandry  and  peace  and  independent  self-government — come  to 
their  place,  and  they  perish  from  the  nations.  Similar,  if  not  so 
frail,  is  the  tendency  of  all  distinctive  national  existence  to  vanish 
away  at  the  contact  of  heterogeneous  civilization,  or  change  of 
language,  law,  intercourse,  or  custom.  But  here  is  the  unparal- 
leled exception.  Bred,  in  every  diversity  of  language  and  custom 
under  heaven — steeped  in  every  element  of  social,  civil,  and  re- 
ligious change — scattered  and  peeled,  within  this  period,  by  more 
horrid  persecutions  to  the  constancy  of  individual  fortitude,  than 
ever  befel  their  fathers,  at  the  hands  of  Adrian  and  Heraclius — 
and  then,  again,  released,  indulged,  caressed  ;  made  richer  in  the 
old  world,  than  Solomon  himself  "  in  all  his  glory,"  and  freer  in 
the  new  world,  than  judges  of  their  ancient  commonwealth — it 
is  all  the  same.  "  A  full  end,"  according  to  one  of  these  prophe- 
cies, approaches  to  Spain,  and  Portugal,  'and  every  modern  na- 


116  PROPHECY. 

tion,  distinguished  for  oppressing  them,  just  as  it  has  been  com- 
pleted on  Egypt,  Nineveh,  Babylon,  Rome,  and  every  ancient 
"  rod"  of  vengeance  in  the  hand  of  ahuighty  truth — but  they 
survive! 

Why,  the  miracle  of  this  anomaly  itself,  might  well  bespeak 
the  credibility  of  oracles,  sent  down  through  such  a  living  mystery 
among  us ;  but  when  we  know,  it  was  foretold,  ages  before  the 
contingencies  that  shape  it  could  have  been  imagined,  how  irresist- 
ible the  inference,  that  God  alone  foretold  it,  and  must  liave  given 
the  Bible ;  where  alone  these  marvels  can  be  explained ;  where, 
even  the  portions  they  reject,  inform  us,  that  the  mystery  of  this 
preservation  is  the  completion  of  prophecies,  yet  to  be  effected  by 
their  instrumentality.  What  is  there  peculiar,  in  the  past  and 
present  condition  of  the  Jews,  that  was  not  prophesied,  and 
threatened  more  than  promised,  in  the  prophecies,  and  therefore 
most  unwillingly  fulfilled  ?  Their  dispersion  among  all  nations, 
and  yet  everlasting  immiscibility ;  their  blindness  and  suffering, 
feebleness  and  fearfulness  ;  their  ceaseless  agitation,  compulsion  to 
idolatry,  and  temptation  to  hypocrisy  ;  their  obdurate  unbelief, 
deep  malignity,  avarice  of  wealth,  and  exposure  in  every  age  to 
robbery,  mockery,  and  remorseless  oppression — all  were  foretold  by 
their  own  early  prophets,  and  among  these,  even  the  meekly  pa- 
triotic leader  of  their  exodus  from  bondage,  over  the  infancy  of 
their  national  existence,  while  as  yet  they  were  a  most  fickle  and 
fluctuating  people,  so  changeable,  as  to  surprise  him  with  a  com- 
plete revolution  of  sentiment,  during  his  absence  of  forty  days  on 
the  mount,  although  the  thunders  of  Sinai  had  been  commis- 
sioned, meanwhile,  to  keep  them  in  constancy. 

II.  But  it  is  time  to  advance  from  our  gratuitous  position,  and 
to  indicate  the  boundless  field  of  confirmation,  which  the  true 
date  of  these  predictions  will  throvv'^  open.  We  received  the  Old 
Testament  prophecies  from  the  Jews ;  and  certainly,  no  corrup- 
tion of  the  text  can  have  occurred,  within  the  last  1800  years 
of  deposit  in  the  hands  of  Christians,  for  Jews  and  Christians 
have  checked  each  other,  all  the  while,  with  a  vigilance  which 
has  never  slept:  and  galled,  as  the  former  have  always  been,  by 
the  evidence  of  fulfilment  in  Jesus  of  Nazareth,  they  would  have 
exposed,  with  loud  and  long  reprehension,  the  slightest  alteration 
of  the  text  that  could  have  crept  into  Christendom. 

Before  the  advent  of  Christ,  the  integrity  of  every  book,  and 
the  truth  of  ever}^  date,  were  guaranteed  beyond  a  doubt  by  the 


PROPHECY.  117 

superstition,  whicli  numbered  the  words  and  the  letters,  and  de- 
nounced death  on  the  man  who  would  alter  a  point  or  iota ;  by 
the  jealous  animosity  of  parties  in  opposite  schools,  or  political 
factions,  which  were  founded  on  diverse  interpretations,  and  ex- 
isted from  the  days  of  the  prophets  themselves ;  by  the  public 
reading  in  the  synagogue,  which  engraved  the  words  on  the  mem- 
ory of  the  people ;  by  the  existence  of  translations,  and  especially 
the  Greek,  at  Alexandria,  nearly  300  years  before  the  Christian 
era,  and  in  a  metropolis  of  learning,  where  religious  eclecticism 
was  the  fashion  of  philosophy,  and  would  be  sure,  in  the  hands 
of  both  Jew  and  Greek,  to  fix  a  special  attention  upon  this  won- 
derful volume  :  these  considerations,  and  others,  such  as  the  inter- 
nal evidence,  from  language,  allusion,  and  order,  prove  most 
clearly  that  no  post  €ventum  interpolation  can  have  mingled  with 
these  prophecies,  and  no  surreptitious  date  can  have  cheated  the 
church  under  any  dispensation. 

True,  the  temerity  of  unbelief  has  often  assailed  this  clear 
demonstration.  Porphyry  said  the  book  of  Daniel  must  have 
been  written  after  the  time  of  Antiochus  Epiphanes,  because  the 
events  of  his  reign  are  so  minutely  described — thus,  in  fact,  yielding 
the  argum»ent ;  and  leaving  us  no  more  to  refute  than  a  cavil  of 
criticism,  which  hardly  stands  to  be  told — a  play  upon  words, 
which  he  discovered  in  some  apocryphal  appendage,  that  was 
published  with  the  Greek  translation  of  Daniel ;  from  which  he 
conjectured  that  the  book  had  been  written  in  Greek,  originally, 
and  translated  into  Hebrew  :  and  yet,  beyond  all  question,  the 
book  was  extant,  in  Greek,  more  than  a  hundred  years  before  the 
time  of  Antiochus  Epiphanes,  which,  itself,  suffices  for  the  argument. 
When  we  know  that  this  is  all  an  accomplished  adversary,  sixteen 
hundred  years  ago,  with  all  his  pains  and  opportunities,  could  do, 
in  discrediting  the  date  of  these  predictions,  we  may  well  suppose, 
that  any  hardihood  like  his,  in  modern  times,  would  slaver  worse 
in  the  infatuation. 

And  so  it  happens  with  renowned  neology  ;  the  very  fame  of 
which  has  propped  the  infidelity,  that  never  read  a  page  of  German 
exegesis.  This  new  era  of  interpretation  is  perfectly  explained, 
so  far  as  our  subject  is  concerned,  when  we  say,  that  it  has 
brought  all  the  learning  and  ingenuity  of  man,  to  argue  in  a 
circle,  that  there  can  be  no  proper  prophecy  at  all — no  revelation 
of  the  contingent  future.  This  negation  of  our  faith  is  always 
presumed  in  order  to  be  proved ;  anc   now,  that  they  have  had 


118  PEOPHECY. 

a  century  of  time  for  the  work  of  their  own  great  doctrinal  pre- 
judice, in  their  own  way  of  logical  injustice,  what  are  the  results? 
We  ask  not  for  a  system,  coherent  and  complete,  which  they  have 
built  on  the  ruins  of  our  supernatural  faith  ;  for  system  they  never 
proposed  ;  and,  in  destruction  to  the  objective  bulwarks  of  religion, 
they  have  destroyed  .one  another  in  quick  and  constant  succes- 
sion. But  what  principles  of  interpretation  may  we  glean  from 
the  vast  researches,  and  progressive  development,  with  which  the 
rationalistic  criticism  would  emancipate  man  from  belief  in  the 
marvellous  ?  Just  enough  to  subvert  all  historical  evidence,  and 
cover  with  doubt  the  whole  authenticated  past. 

Whatever  has  come  down  to  the  eighteenth  century,  undisputed 
and  unchallenged,  through  ten  thousand  generations,  of  the 
learned  and  the  unlearned,  must,  of  course,  be  considered  spurious 
until  the  contrary  be  proved.  By  this  canon  the  prophecy  of 
Isaiah  has  been  set  aside.  Whatever,  on  the  other  hand,  has 
met  a  challenge,  at  any  time,  in  the  course  of  criticism  or  of  con- 
troversy, however  long  posterior  to  its  proper  date,  must  be  also 
rejected.  By  this  canon,  Daniel  and  the  Apocalypse  are  both  set 
aside.  Wherever  another  reading  can  be  conjectured,  materially 
different  from  that  which  has  been  received,  it  is  to  be  the  true 
reading  until  the  other  can  be  proved :  and  wherever  the  fertility 
and  taste  of  any  author,  avoid  the  use  of  a  remarkable  expres- 
sion, more  than  once,  that  expression  must  be  considered  an  in- 
terpolation by  some  later  hand.  By  these  canons,  all  prophecy  is 
rifled  of  its  pure  vaticination,  and  left  a  turgid  rhapsody,  without 
even  the  gems  of  literature  to  commend  it. — No  other  limit  shall 
be  imposed  on  the  hcense  of  critical  acumen  than  a  man's  own 
critical  feeling :  and  wherever,  by  the  dictates  of  this  critical  feel- 
ing, there  may  be  internal  proof  of  genuineness  and  integrity  in 
any  book,  this  proof  can  establish  no  more  than  a  good  imitation 
by  a  subsequent  writer.  By  these  canons,  all  revelation  becomes 
a  subjective  chameleon,  forever  uncertain  to  the  most  believing 
individual. 

Such  are  some  of  the  axioms  which  must  be  the  basis  of, all 
exposition,  and  the  bottom  of  ail  deep  research,  if  you  follow 
these  guides  in  biblical  study ;  or  venture  any  mvestigation 
whatever,  with  that  same  refinement  of  criticism  which  three 
generations  of  progressive  neology  have  attained,  by  seeking  rest 
in  letters  fgr  the  foot  of  enlightened  infidelity.  And  is  it  no4. 
enough  to  establish  the  truth  of  every  date,  and  the  integrity  of 


PROPHECY.  119 

every  text,  that  we  point  you  to  this  amazing  fatuity  of  gifted 
scholars  and  profound  philologists,  who  have  devoted  a  lifetime  to 
the  work  of  their  repudiation?  Deadly  recoil  forever  attends  the 
impotent  endeavor. 

But  now,  that  the  true  antiquity  and  antecedence  of  these 
prophecies  will  bring  all  history  before  us,  in  the  range  of  their 
accomplishment,  compared  with  which,  the  attestations  we  have 
indicated,  within  the  last  four  hundred  years,  are  but  a  glance  at 
the  sepulchre  as  it  remains  until  this  day — where  shall  we  begin 
or  end  the  illustration  of  our  theme :  or  how  compute  the  greater 
cogency  of  this  great  argument,  when  the  retrocession  of  the 
date,  not  only  multiplies  the  number,  but  enhances  the  contin- 
gency of  prophesied  events,  by  so  many  more  intervening  threads 
of  complicated  influence  and  incident?  Thebes,  and  Petra,  and 
Rabbah,  and  Gaza,  and  Tyre,  and  Samaria,  and  Jerusalem,  and 
Nineveh,  and  Babylon — cities  in  particular,  whose  greater  minute- 
ness of  destiny  wonld  be  far  less  adventured  by  human  conjec- 
ture than  countries  or  kingdoms — all  had  their  downfall  described, 
and  their  present  condition  of  ruin  foretold,  in  remote  antiquity, 
and  at  the  very  time  when  each  in  its  proud  glory  was  most 
rampant  and  secure.  Go,  we  beg  you,  to  the  most  rigid  and 
careful  examination,  with  the  Bible  in  one  hand,  and  history  in 
the  other.  So  numerous  are  the  prophecies  before  us,  that  no  less 
than  two  hundred  distinct  predictions  may  be  counted  in  relation 
to  the  family  of  Abraham  alone  ;  most  of  which  have  been 
already  fulfilled  to  the  very  letter,  none  of  which  have  ever  been 
falsified,  and  such  as  remain  to  be  accomplished,  guaranty  the 
certainty  of  that  event,  not  only  by  words  which  have  never 
failed,  but  by  facts,  submitted  to  the  observation  of  every  age,  in 
the  standing  miracle  of  Arabic  as  well  as  Jewish  nationality. 
Despairing  of  justice  to  any  part  of  this  great  field,  and  oppressed 
with  the  magnitude  of  its  claims  to  a  full  investigation,  we  shall 
merely  stand  for  a  little  at  the  central  theme  of  inspired  predic- 
tions, the  truth  of  every  promise,  the  substance  of  every  siiadow, 
the  mystery  of  God  manifest  in  the  flesh. 

Four  thousand  years,  at  least,  before  the  birth  of  Jesus  Christ, 
it  was  announced  that  the  seed  of  the  woman  would  bruise  the 
head  of  the  serpent ;  a  most  frivolous  declaration,  in  the  most 
dignified  and  sublime  of  all  compositions,  if  it  mean  anything 
else  than  the  promise  of  a  great  avenger  on  the  agent  of  our 
ruin,  to  spring  from  the  mother  of  mankind.     More  than   two, 


120  PROPHECY. 

thousand  years  afterwards  the  spirit  of  prophecy  began  to  de- 
velop and  define  that  primeval  promise  ;  foretelling  its  fulfilment 
in  the  seed  of  Abraham,  then  of  Isaac,  then  of  Jacob,  then  of 
Judah,  and  at  length  of  David.  And,  along  with  these  succes- 
sive limitations  of  his  lineage  in  the  flesh,  were  successive  revela- 
tions of  his  character,  and  the  constitution  of  his  person,  bywords 
and  ^y  types,  until  the  waxing  adumbration  became  the  burden 
of  song.  All  the  powers  of  imagination,  and  depths  of  emotion, 
and  fountains  of  tender  affection,  and  intimacies  of  personal  ex- 
perience, in  the  trials  of  life,  and  succors  of  grace,  and  conduct 
of  Providence — the  whole  inner  life  of  the  Hebrews — became  a 
sentiment  of  mysterious  anticipation,  which  passed  over  even  to 
the  heathen  around  them,  and  spread  with  every  dispersion  of  the 
Jews,  until  it  imbued  the  literature  of  pagans,  and  became  a  world- 
wide expectation.  The  prophets  of  Israel  availed  themselves  of 
this  great  Messianic  idea  in  the  popular  mind  to  arouse,  rebuke, 
console,  or  encourage  the  nation,  according  to  circumstances  :  so 
that  abrupt  transitions  to  it  and  from  it,  as  well  as  latent  intima- 
tions of  it,  were  perfectly  natural,  in  view  of  this  general  senti- 
ment among  the  people,  as  well  as  extatic  impulse  of  the  seer. 

A  splendid  succession  of  prophets  followed  the  Psalms  of 
David  for  the  space  of  five  hundred  years ;  each  one  revealing  a 
new  feature,  while  rehearsing  in  the  color  of  his  own  genius  and 
times  what  others  had  uttered  ;  until  the  portraiture  was  finished, 
four  hundred  years  before  the  actual  advent.  And  what  a  sum 
of  special  criteria  does  it  embody,  by  which  to  test  his  absolute 
identity  and  their  true  inspiration  of  God  !  It  foretells  that  he 
will  come  in  lowly  condition  ;  born  of  a  virgin,  at  Bethlehem  ; 
of  the  family  of  David,  when  it  shall  have  sunk  to  the  lowest 
depression; — that  a  forerunner,  in  the  spirit  of  Elijah,  will  herald 
his  entrance  on  a  public  ministry ;  and  a  copious  effusion  of  the 
Holy  Ghost  will  be  his  great  inauguration ;  and  Galilee  of  the 
gentiles  the  principal  place  of  his  beneficent  working  and  teach- 
ing ; — that  his  formal  entrance  into  Jerusalem  will  be  upon  an 
ass,  amidst  the  loud  acclamations  of  a  multitude,  while  the 
second  temple  is  yet  standing  to  receive  him,  the  recesses  of 
which  will  ring  with  hosannas  of  little  children  in  his  praise ; — 
that  his  authority  will  be  rejected,  his  salvation  refused,  his  per- 
son despised; and  surrounded  by  malignant  persecutors,  betrayed 
into  their  hands  by  his  own  familiar  friend,  and  that  for  thirty 
pieces  of  silver,  he  will  be  devoted,  with  his  own  meek  submis- 


PKOPHECY.  121 

sion,  to  extreme  insult,  mockery,  and  abuse,  until  his  hands  and 
feet  are  pierced,  and  his  life  cut  off  by  their  violence ;  cut  off  in 
the  midst  of  malefactors,  and  for  the  transgression  of  others ; 
without  a  spot  of  guilt  on  his  own  soul,  or  one  taint  of  iniquity 
on  the  whole  of  his  life ; — that  his  murderers  will  distribute  his 
clothing  by  lot ;  and  he  will  be  laid  in  the  grave  of  a  rich  man 
at  his  burial;  but  not  long  enough  to  see  corruption  in  his  body, 
for  he  will  rise  from  the  dead  with  power,  ascend  to  heaven  with 
a  shout  of  angels; and  usher  down  the  glories  of  a  new  adminis- 
tration, with  a  great  effusion  of  the  Spirit,  upon  all  classes  and 
conditions  of  men ;  and  glad  tidings  will  be  everywhere  pro- 
claimed, the  burden  of  Levitical  rites  will  be  abolished,  and  guilty 
Jerusalem  destroyed ; — and  all  these  wonderful  and  particular 
things  are  fixed,  in  time,  precisely,  by  a  computation  of  weeks 
and  half  weeks,  five  hundred  years  before  they  occurred  ! 

What  possible  ingenuity  of  unbelief  can  evade  this  overwhelm- 
ing demonstration  at  the  centre  of  our  theme — "more  sure,"  ac- 
cording to  Peter,  than  an  audible  voice  from  the  throne  of 
heaven  ?  No  one  can  deny  that  these  things,  and  many  others 
predicted,  were  exactly  fulfilled  in  Jesus  of  Nazareth ;  and  no 
one  will  say,  without  absurdity,  that  if  all  the  parties  concerned 
in  working  out  the  accomplishment  had  joined  together  in  per- 
fect concert,  they  could  have  made  so  many  contingencies  work 
together  at  the  very  time  and  place.  But  who  does  not  know 
that  they  were  completed,  not  only  through  strange  conjunctures, 
sudden  and  signal,  but  in  spite  of  confusion,  hostility,  ignorance, 
and  counteraction,  to  the  utmost  extent  of  man's  perverted  will? 
From  the  close  of  the  Old  Testament  prophecy  to  the  coming  of 
Christ,  the  interval  was  one  of  incessant  agitation  over  all  the 
world,  and  especially  Palestine,  where  not  only  was  the  Jewish 
commonwealth  "overturned,  and  overturned,  and  overturned,"  by 
every  change  of  politics,  and  the  crown  of  David  flung  as  a 
baubl*  from  hand  to  hand  of  the  insolent  victors  ;  but  schools  of 
arrcJgant  pretension,  arose  in  the  bosom  of  the  nation,  which  de- 
praved the  Messianic  apprehension  of  their  pious  fathers,  and 
would  have  utterly  prevented,  without  one  external  disturbance, 
the  manifestation  of  a  Saviour  like  ours,  as  the  product  of  his 
age,  or  psychological  effect  of  a  national  sentiment  for  ages 
maturing,  or,  in  any  sense  whatever,  a  self-evolution,  by  the 
operation  of  causes — like  the  many  false  Christs,  that  so  often 
appeared,  in   the  sequel,  to  please  and  punish  a  morbid  expecta- 


122  PEOPHECY. 

tion.  He  came,  after  all,  a  surprising'  fact,  a  great  historical 
emergency,  which  the  manifold  and  minute  predictions  '•  that 
went  before  upon  him,"  could  do  no  more  than  attest  and  iden- 
tify to  a  reluctant  world. 

The  Great  Prophet  himself  would,  of  course,  mingle  the  future 
in  his  own  teaching  and  preaching.  And  the  companions  of  his 
life  recorded,  with  care,  not  only  predictions,  which  they  lived  to 
register  beside  the  accomplishment,  but  predictions  which  they 
left  unfulfilled,  and  sent  forth,  a  liability  for  all  men  to  seize  ;  with 
all  that  was  dear  and  true  in  their  holy  convictions,  gaged  on  the 
occurrence  of  improbable  contingencies.  Such  was  the  prophecy 
of  our  Lord  respecting  the  destruction  of  Jerusalem,  pubhshed  by 
three  of  the  evangelists,  wide  as  the  empire,  many  years  before 
that  catastrophe;  and  which  the  unbelieving  Joseph  us,  and  the 
pagan  Tacitus,  and  the  Jewish  Talmud  itself,  were  left  to  confirm 
or  confute  according  to  events.  Near  forty  years  before  the 
armies  of  Vespasian  entered  Judea,  a  casual  conversation  took 
place  at  the  temple,  where  the  disciples  of  our  Lord,  looking  with 
fresh  admiration  at  the  huge  foundation  stones  of  that  magnifi- 
cent edifice,  one  of  them  said  to  him,  "  Master,  see  what  manner 
of  stones  and  what  buildings  are  here  !"  "  Jesus,  answering,  said 
unto  him,  Seest  thou  these  great  buildings  ?  there  shall  not  be 
left  one  stone  upon  another,  that  shall  not  be  thrown  down." 
Was  it  probable,  then,  that  the  Roman  empire  would  suffer  any 
power  on  earth  to  spoil,  with  such  deletion,  the  glory  of  that 
temple,  the  pride  of  the  East,  and  cherished  trophy  of  her  own 
invincible  arms  1 — and  still  more,  that  she  herself  would  do  it,  so 
pleased  of  late  with  the  loyal  munificence  of  Herod,  and  so  in- 
tent on  pleasing  a  nation,  renowned  for  obstinate  courage,  and 
numerous  now,  even  to  the  banks  of  the  Tiber? — and  that  in  the 
Augustan  age,  of  magnanimity  and  taste,  of  all  others,  the  most 
averse  from  vandalic  violence  to  monuments  of  art,  or  habitations 
of  the  local  divinities  she  conquered?  Yet  we  know  it  was  done, 
with  a  vengeance,  by  the  Roman  himself,  in  a  freak  of  exaspera- 
tion, which  even  military  orders  could  not  prevent.  The  very 
name  has  been  transmitted,  of  the  man,  Terentius  Rufus.  who 
drove  a  ploughshare  through  the  ground  on  which  the  temple  was 
built. 

The  very  caprice  of  a  Roman  leader,  who  advanced,  in  the  mean- 
time, with  a  powerful  army  against  Jerusalem,  when  it  might  have 
been  taken  without  a  battle,  and  then  retreated,  and  retreated 


PKOrHECT.  '  123 

without  a  reason, does  not  escape  the  eye  of  this  Prophet.  (Matt, 
xxiv.  6.)  All  the  intervening  casualties,  of  any  account,  are 
minutely  predicted  as  signs  of  that  dreadful  consummation — false 
Christs,  famines,  pestilences,  earthquakes,  and  fearful  sights  from 
heaven,  as  well  as  war  among  the  Jews,  and  persecution  of  the 
Christians — any  one  of  which,  foretold  with  similar  precision, 
would  have  made  a  god  of  the  most  besotted  pagan  on  the  earth. 
And  could  we  conceive  that  all  these  were  but  fortunate  conject- 
ures, or  astute  speculations,  on  the  temper  of  a  turbulent  and 
seditious  people,  how  is  it  that  he  would  hazard  a  measure  of 
time  for  the  whole  accomplishment? — and  such  a  measure — itself 
a  miracle  of  foresight — it  was  to  be  within  the  life  of  a  man,  at 
that  lime  in  his  presence.  Compare  Matt.  xvi.  28  and  xxiv.  34. 
John,  his  own  disciple,  did  outlive  the  destruction  of  Jerusalem ; 
and  he  is  the  only  evangelist  who  did  not  record  the  prophecy,  as 
he  is  the  only  one  who  could  have  tinged  its  terms,  with  jjost 
eventum  observation.  And  still  more  than  this,  the  most  im- 
probable thing  in  the  world  is  expressly  predicted  as  another  ante- 
cedent:  "The  gospel  must  first  be  published  among  all  nations" 
— a  gospel  which  was  not  yet  understood  by  the  most  intimate 
and  wise  of  his  own  disciples,  and  which,  by  the  direction  of  his 
own  lips,  had  been  confined  to  the  limits  of  Judea — a  gospel  for 
the  world  promised  by  a  Jew,  and  to  be  spread  by  the  instrumen- 
tality of  Jews,  the  very  genius  of  whom  was  monopoly  of  reli- 
gious advantages.  Universal  promulgation ! — the  thought  of 
which  had  never  entered  the  mind  of  man  before — for  any  system 
of  religion,  morals,  or  philosophy  :  godlike,  the  lone  idea,  without  a 
prophecy  to  promise  it — much  more  to  promise  it  so  soon,  while 
as  yet  there  was  not  a  "  mustard  seed"  of  visibility  portending  it. 
And  yet  it  came  to  pass.  The  empire  had  been  all  traversed 
over,  and  the  remotest  regions  of  the  East,  in  all  probability,  ex- 
plored, before  the  torch  of  the  soldier  had  touched  the  temple,  or 
the  energy  of  Titus  had  completed  his  trench. 

A  word  was  dropped  respecting  the  continuance  of  the  desola- 
tion which  w^ould  follow.  "  Jerusalem  shall  be  trodden  down  of 
the  Gentiles,  until  the  times  of  the  Gentiles  be  fulfilled."  Never 
has  that  city  ceased  to  be  so  trodden  down,  as  you  know,  since 
"  the  abomination"  made  it  desolate  ;  never  did  the  flaming  sword 
in  Eden  more  efl!*ectually  bar  the  fallen  progenitors  of  men  from 
returning  to  the  garden  than  these  potential  words  have  barred 
the  Jew  from  reinstatement  at  Jerusalem.     Three  hundred  years 


124  PROPHECY. 

after  they  had  fallen  from  the  Saviour's  lips,  Julian,  with  all  the 
resources  of  the  empire  in  his  hands,  and  the  energy  of  heroic 
vigor  in  his  soul,  and  the  hatred  of  apostate  conscience  in  his 
heart,  and  the  alacrity  of  a  million  homeless  Jews  at  his  side, 
dared  to  countervail  this  oracle  of  the  Crucified  One  ;  and  actually 
attempted  to  rebuild  Jerusalem,  and  restore  the  Jews,  for  one 
monument,  at  least,  of  falsehood  among  the  prophecies  of  Chris- 
tianity,— when  balls  of  fire  issued  from  the  earth  to  blast  the 
workmen,  and  fearful  portents  interfered  on  every  hand  to  hinder 
and  deter  the  impious  determination — ^a  fact  which  all  contempo- 
raneous histor}^,  civil  and  ecclesiastical,  pagan  and  Christian,  will 
unite  to  establish.  And  call  that  strange  plienomenon  anything 
you  please,  or  call  its  occurrence  at  all  a  sheer  fabrication,  which 
even  Gibbon  would  not  do,  still  we  find  the  word  of  prophecy  ful- 
filled, "  quick  and  powerful,"  to  the  minutest  incident  of  its  utter- 
ance, and  vindicated  marvellously,  in  the  naked  fact,  that  a  mighty 
preparation  for  a  mighty  work  was  instantly  abandoned,  and  the 
last  imperial  foe  was  hurried  away,  from  audacious  battle  with 
his  dead  Galilean,  to  perish  at  the  meridian  of  life,  by  the  lance 
of  a  Persian  soldier. 

We  would  gladly  pursue  the  outline  of  distinguished  prophecies, 
already  completed  since  the  ascension  of  the  Saviour,  such  as  the 
dispersion  of  the  Jews,  the  calling  of  the  Gentiles,  the  rise  of 
Mohammedan  fury  and  delusion — and  especially  the  grejit  event 
of  Antichristian  apostasy,  minutely,  foretold  in  2  Thess.  ii.,  and  so 
precisely  accomplished  in  the  whole  history  of  Papal  Rome.  It 
would  be  worth  the  space  and  labor  of  many  an  entire  lecture,  to 
see  hov/  the  very  objections  to  Christianity,  from  its  early  corrup- 
tion and  rapid  degeneracy,  prove  the  divinity  of  its  origin  ;  by 
the  fact,  that  these  things  were  all  foretold,  with  an  exactness  of 
delineation,  which  nothing  but  a  supernatural  inspiration  could 
have  dictated.  But  we  have  passed  our  limits ;  and  it  remains 
to  attempt  a  more  direct  and  condensed  exhibition  of  the  argu- 
ment in  anott.er  lecture. 


PROPHECY.  125 


11. 


To  say  what  is  required  of  prophecy,  as  an  argument  for  the 
truth  of  revealed  rehgion,  hardly  becomes  the  ignorance  of  man. 
The  amount  of  conviction,  the  manner  and  means  of  it,  are  for 
Him  only  to  devise,  who  comprehends  our  need,  and  the  right  edu- 
cation of  our  fallen  and  disordered  understandings.  There  is  an 
extravagance  of  incredulity,  in  many  minds,  which  it  were  not 
worth  the  cost  of  other  important  interests,  in  the  plan  of  God's 
moral  government,  to  convince.  There  would  be  insult  to  reason 
itself,  in  that  redundancy  of  demonstration,  which  the  unbelief  of 
aversion  demands — an  unbelief,  which,  if  it  were  convinced  to- 
day, would  be  as  uncertain  as  ever  to-morrow.  And  ho\v  far  the 
moral  evidence  should  be  furnished,  to  persuade  the  sincere  and 
earnest  man,  at  every  grade  of  intellectual  power,  and  leave  un- 
reasonable incredulity  to  sink  in  its  own  abyss,  of  wretched  inqui- 
etude and  doubt,  we  dare  not  undertake  to  define.  But  we  ven- 
ture, on  this  occasion,  to  affirm,  that  there  is  no  conceivable 
requisition  for  evidence,  on  the  part  of  a  well-balanced  mind, 
which  is  not  satisfied,  with  the  ample  demonstrations  of  this  ar- 
gument from  prophecy. 

1.  It  is  required,  that  true  'projyhecies  claim  to  he  such,  when 
they  are  first  delivered  to  men :  not  a  bundle  of  rhapsodies,  which 
may  be  labelled  poetry,  history,  or  prophecy,  according  to  the 
fancy  of  men,  or  chance  of  tradition,  or  advent  of  some  verisimili- 
tude. Let  the  title  be  clear.  Let  the  claim  be  promulged  in  ad- 
vance. Let  all  generations  know,  that  these  are  predictions,  the 
credit  of  which  is  entirely  staked  on  developments  in  the  future, 
which  ten  thousand  uncertainties  hide  from  the  eye  of  human 
foreknowledge.  Now,  this  is  eminently  true  of  scripture  prophe- 
cies ;  as  it  would  be  superfluous  to  prove.  Not  only  do  they 
everywhere  profess  to  anticipate  the  future,  but  they  often  apprize 
the  reader,  that  they  do  it  for  the  sake  of  argument,  in  order  to 
prove  the  exclusive  claims  of  this  revelation  ;  arming,  in  this  way, 
all  men  with  an  edge  of  scrutiny  against  them.  How  striking 
tjie  contrast,  in  this  particular,  with  that  significant  evasion,  with 
which  other  vaticinations  doff  the  title,  until  time  shall  have  de- 
cided on  the  luck  of  their  adventure. 


126  PROPHECY. 

2.  It  is  required,  that  these  'prophecies  he  so  expressed^  as  to 
be,  in  no  proper  sense,  the  canse  of  their  own  fulfdment.     They 
must  have  some  meaning,  of  course,  to  the  anterior  student ;  ex- 
citing in  him  hope,  and  energy,  and  comfort,  as  well  as  anxious 
investigation  :  but  they  must  be  sufficiently  obscure,  in  the  form 
of  expression,  or  in  regard  to  the  manner  and  means  of  their  ac- 
complishment, to  preclude  his  own  designing  and  direct  oxertions 
from  achieving  it.     Otherwise,  free  agency  might  be  constrained  ; 
the  event  might  follow  the  prediction,  as  effect  follows  the  cause  ; 
and  prophecy  would  differ,  only  in  the  tense,  from  actual  history. 
This  perfection  of  enigma  is  peculiar  to  these  inspired  predictions  : 
it  could  never  be  attained    by  man's  contrivance.      The  Sibyl 
leaves,  when  tossed  a  little  with  the  wind,  were  nonsense.     The 
Delphic  oracles,  when  articulate  with  future  contingency,  were 
always  ambiguous,  and   so  artfully  constructed,  that  they  might 
be  fulfilled   in  any  one  of  two  or  more  contrary  events.     How 
many,  like  Croesus,  and  like  Pyrrhus,  were  deceived,  at  the  most 
critical  moments  of  life;  and  destroyed,  by  the  fallacious  hope, 
which    those  cunning   impostures    had  contrived,   to  please   the 
votary,  in  return  for  his  gift,  and   yet  retain  the  plausibility  of 
truthfulness,  under  any  sort  of  circumstances  in  the  future.     But 
no  such  ambiguity  is  here.     Definite  and  sure,  these  oracles  are 
always  a  warrant  for  the  faith  of  him  who  trusts  them,  which  will 
never  deceive  his  honest  hope  :  and  yet,  no  skill  of  interpretation 
can  write  out  the  precise  accomplishment,  before  its  own  time.    And 
the  only  disappointment  which  they  have  ever  produced,  has  been 
inflicted  on  the  presumption,  that  disregards  this  divine  enigma, 
so  inscrutable  to  man.     The  Jews,  for  instance,  familiar  with  so 
many  predictions  clearly  realized  in  their  own  history,  came  at 
length  to  interpret  all  prophecy  in  the  light  of  past  fulfihnent: 
and  obliterating  the  plain  distinction,  between  terms  of  history 
and  symbols  of  prophecy,  their  confident  exegesis,  of  the  great 
messianic  burden  of  the  Bible,  became  a  tradition  of  fatal  preju- 
dice, to  the  exercise,  alike,  of  faith,  and  reason,  and  sense,  when 
the  true  completion  in  its  season  arrived — a  memorable  warning 
for  the  dogmatism  of  every  age,  that  would  affect  to  decipher, 
what  God    has   purposely  hidden,  for  the  hand   of  his  own  Al- 
mighty Providence,  to  work  out,  with  wonder,  to  the  observation 
of  men. 

3.  It  is  required,  that  the  fulfilment  remove  all  obscurity  of 
sense  from  the  prediction.     Wf  ile  there  is  a  secret  mark  of  iden- 


PROPHECY.  127 

tification,  couched  among  the  symbols  of  prophetical,  language, 
that  always  invites  and  rewards,  without  satisfying  the  ingenuous 
reader,  before  the  accomplishment — "serving  the  threefold  pur- 
pose, of  being  a  bUnd  to  the  incurious,  a  trap  to  the  dogmatical, 
and  an  exercise  of  modesty,  of  patience,  and  of  sagacity,  to  the 
wise" — there  is  always  in  the  true  fulfilment,  the  evolution  of  a 
test,  which  settles  forever  the  solution  of  the  sacred  enigma. 
Look  at  the  prophecies  relating  to  the  Saviour  of  men,  and  to 
every  kingdom  and  metropolis  of  ancient  times  ;  to  the  overthrow 
of  Persia  by  Macedon  ;  the  subsequent  division  of  the  Grecian 
empire,  among  the  successors  of  Alexander ;  the  spread  of  the 
Roman  arms,  described  by  Moses  and  Daniel ;  and  the  ultimate 
dissolution  of  that  stupendous  power  ;  all  foretold,  with  a  skill  of 
implication,  which  no  sublunary  intelligence  could  unravel,  nor 
even  the  prophets  who  delivered  them  divine,  beyond  the  use  of 
adoring  trust  in  the  Providence  of  God ;  but  which  now  lies  be- 
fore us,  with  all  the  specialties  of  history  to  be  seen  in  its  folds — 
completeness  and  precision  of  adjustment,  among  the  metaphors, 
that  rival  the  most  graphic  details  of  the  chronicle  itself. 

It  is  true,  indeed,  that  ignorance  may  blur,  in  man's  apprehen- 
sion, the  most  beautiful  economy  of  God's  wisdom.  The  drapery 
of  symbols  may  not  be  rightly  understood ;  the  deposition  of 
history  may  not  be  faithfully  gathered,  and  fairly  collated  ;  the 
power  of  prejudice  may  cloud  the  most  erudite  mind  with  Egyp- 
tian darkness ;  and  there  may  be,  at  times,  in  the  web  of  pro- 
phecy itself,  a  complexity  of  thread,  through  the  long  series  of 
futurities,  often  foretold  together,  which  the  best  learning  and  ex- 
perience are  yet  too  immature  to  comprehend,  as  the  scheme  is 
but  partly  unfolded — these,  and  other  considerations,  may  fully 
account  for  the  disagreement  among  interpreters,  respecting  a  few 
predictions,  which  have  transpired  already  in  events. 

4.  It  is  required  that  these  prophecies  he  manifold,  hi  order 
that  no  chance  may  account  for  the  comjpletion  of  all ;  and  no 
ignorance,  or  oversight,  may  jeopard  the  force  of  this  argument, 
by  the  waste  to  which  we  have  just  adverted.  Any  shrewd 
observer  of  the  world  might  venture  a  prediction  of  some  future 
event,  from  the  tendency  of  causes  at  work  in  his  day,  tlie  pro- 
gress of  human  development  already  observed,  or  even  the  whim- 
sey  of  wanton  conjecture  ;  and  among  the  myriad  occurrences,  in 
every  age,  it  were  strange  if  such  adventure  of  prophecy  would 
not  be  followed,  sometimes,  with  strikint,   coincidence   of  facts. 


128    .  PEOPHECY. 

Varro  informs  us,  that  he  heard  an  augur  in  his  day,  Vettius 
Valens,  assert,  that  the  twelve  vultures  which  appeared  to  Ronju- 
lus,  when  he  stood  on  the  Palatine  hill,  contending  with  his 
iMother  Remus,  respecting  the  name  of  the  city  they  had  agreed 
to  build  on  the  Tiber,  signified  twelve  centuries,  through  which 
the  Roman  empire  was  destined  to  endure  ;  and  history  has  re- 
corded the  fact,  that  the  empire,  of  which  Rome  was  the  centre 
and  capital,  was  overthrown,  almost  exactly  according  to  this 
expository  presage,  500  years  after  it  was  given. 

Again,  Seneca  sung,  (if  he  be  the  author  of  "  Medea")  the  dis- 
covery of  America,  1400  years  before  it  occurred  ;  in  the  following 
general,  but  most  remarkable  language : — 


-venient  annis 


Secula  seris,  quibus  Oceanus 
Vincula  reium  laxit,  et  ingens 
Pateat  tellus,  Tiphysque  novos 
Detegat  orbes  ;  nee  sit  terris 
Ultima  Thule.' 

Again,  it  is  said,  that  M.  de  Cazotte  predicted,  some  years  before 
1787,  w4th  much  minuteness,  to  a  large  company  of  intelligent 
persons  in  Paris,  the  atrocities  of  the  Reign  of  Terror  in  France — 
telling  Condorcet  that  he  would  die  in  prison,  of  poison,  admin- 
istered by  his  own  hand,  which  actually  happened — predicting, 
also,  the  fate  of  Louis  XVI.  and  his  Q,ueen,  and  persons  are  yet 
living,  it  is  said,  who  heard  these  utterances  distinctly  given, 
before  any  one  of  them  was  yet  fulfilled,  and  while  the  prophet 
was  laughed  at  for  his  pains.  It  is  well  known,  also,  that  tradi- 
tionary soothsayings  are  abundant  in  many  places  of  Germany, 
Westphalia  in  particular,  and  all  along  the  Rhine,  some  of  which, 
it  is  said,  have  been  remarkably  accomplished,  in  the  memorable 
agitations  of  1848  and  '49.  And  a  learned  Professor  in  Edin- 
burgh has  even  broached  the  hypothesis  of  a  physical  medium, 
between  certain  highly  sensitive  constitutions,  and  the  near  ap- 
proach of  eventful  things,  in  highly  excited  times. 

Yet  what  are  all  these  scattered  facts — most  of  them  so  much 
like  guessing  in  the  vagueness  of  their  terms — although  a  thousand 
times  better  attested  than  they  are,  and  a  thousand  times  remoter 
from  suspicion  of  being  the  cause  of  their  own  accomplishment, 
or  being  shaped  by  the  mouth  of  tradition,  as  it  suits  the  course 
of  probabilities — compared  with  the  vast  array  of  particular  pro- 
phecies in  Scripture,  not  one  of  which  has  ever  failed  of  fulfilment 


PROPHECY.  129 

'in  its  time  !  Forget  not  the  millions  of  falsified  prediction  and 
augury  that  are  sunk  on  every  side  of  them,  when  those  "  rari 
in  gurgite  nantes"  are  so  flippantly  proposed  ! 

Not  only  are  the  prophecies  of  inspiration  many  and  various  in 
themselves,  but  they  are,  in  all  important  cases,  reiterated  Ijy 
many  different  prophets,  at  long  intervals  of  separation,  in  the 
course  of  time  ;  thus  making  the  first  announcement, by  the  para- 
phrases of  succeeding  seers,  a  fixed  and  inflexible  cognition,  which 
no  ingenuity  of  man  could  torture  into  correspondence  with  an 
ultimate  event;  as  might  have  been  the  case  with  a  single  utter- 
ance ;  and  as  really  is  the  case  with  the  solitary  sights  of  unin- 
spired prevision. 

Nor  is  it  number  and  repetition  alone,  which  defy  the  versatility 
of  chance,  and  privacy  of  interpretation  to  enact  a  tithe  of  the 
accomplishment ;  but  the  dignity  and  importance  of  their  import 
also — a  public  concernment,  almost  always  ;  which  could  never 
achieve  its  fulfilment  in  a  corner;  embracing  in  the  range  of  its 
wonderful  extent,  all  the  mighty  monarchies  of  ancient  time,  the 
cities,  the  countries,  the  kings,  the  warriors,  the  people ;  Pheni- 
cians,  Egyptians,  Idumeans,  Arabians,  Assyrians,  Chaldeans, 
Persians,  Greeks,  Romans,  as  well  as  Jews  ;  and  the  whole  mag- 
nitude of  middle  and  modern  history  besides ;  from  the  ruin  of 
Pagan  Rome,  and  the  rise  of  Mohammedan  imposition,  to  the 
downfall  of  Antichrist,  and  the  reign  of  Millennial  glory — all  his- 
tory forecast  in  this  epitome — with  a  greatness  of  particulars, 
which  no  philosophy  of  actual  history  could  equal,  in  the  choice ; 
and  not  one  of  the  particulars  ever  taking  back  its  gage,  to  drop 
from  the  oracle  in  convenient  oblivion  ;  not  one  particular  without 
its  own  minuteness  of  specialty,  which  neither  man  nor  angel 
can  elicit  in  advance,  but  which  the  complete  event  will  recognize 
to  demonstration. 

5.  It  is  required,  that  these  predictions,  which  would  prove  a 
revelation  from  God,  he  connected  in  system,  and  exhibit  a 
scheme  and  scope  of  design,  worthy  of  Him,  whose  infinite  wis- 
dom, elsewhere,  always  appears  in  unity  of  purpose.  If,  instead 
of  a  few  surprising  coincidences,  of  a  rival  character,  picked  up, 
here  and  there,  upon  the  tide  of  time,  we  should  find  them  innu- 
merably more  than  we  have  reckoned,  and  more  even  than  the 
prophecies  of  inspiration,  yet,  if  they  are  all  disconnected  and 
aimless,  while  these  are  compact,  and  conspicuous  for  unity  of 
aim,  running   through   all  ages,  we   might  still  make  good  the 

9 


130  PROPHECY. 

demonstration  of  Divinity  on  these  pages,  and  on  these  alone. 
More  difficult  would  it  be,  for  chance  to  account  for  ten  related 
facts  in  a  series,  than  for  ten  thousand  facts  without  rela- 
tion or  connection.  Nay,  more,  should  we  concede,  that  every 
jj|ausible  response  of  heathen  oracles,  and  every  sagacious  or 
lucky  prognostication  of  any  age,  were  genuine  utterances  of  su- 
pernatural knowledge,  yet  if  these  predictions  of  the  Bible  are  the 
only  utterances  of  the  kind,  adduced  for  a  particular  purpose,  and 
that  purpose  not  only  godlike  in  its  meaning,  but  perfectly  unique 
through  all  the  successions  and  transmutations  of  time,  the  argu- 
ment stands  against  all  competition.  You  never  reject  the  testi- 
mony of  an  adequate  number  of  unimpeachable  witnesses  in 
court,  merely  because  there  may  be  a  multitude  of  men  without, 
asserting  a  thousand  particular  facts,  which  have  no  connection 
with  the  case  on  hand,  or  the  point  at  issue.  Why  then  demur 
at  the  result  of  this  converging  deposition,  which  so  many  voices, 
throughout  so  many  ages,  harmoniously  deliver,  because  forsooth, 
the  world  has  been  replete  with  other  voices,  equally  mysterious 
and  unearthly,  yet  all-discordant  as  the  babblers  on  the  plain  of 
Shinar  ?  What  boots  it  the  sciolist,  when  he  has  gathered  the 
whole  magazine  of  emulous  predictions,  by  pagan  augury,  tripod, 
or  cave  ;  by  the  wise  politician,  the  mystical  monk,  the  delirious 
fanatic,  or  the  mesmeric  dreamer;  since  they  are  ruled  altogether 
out  of  court,  by  the  common  law  of  evidence,  because  they  have 
nothing  to  say,  that  is  relevant  on  the  suit  of  man's  immortal 
aspirations— because,  v.athout  the  smallest  injury  to  their  preten- 
sions, they  cannot  witness  anything,  and  much  less  agree  to  wit- 
ness anything — while  here  is  an  immense^array  of  perfect  agree- 
ment, in  the  most  positive  declaration  that  ever  was  made ;  a 
redemption  from  sin,  sorrow,  and  death,  which  no  imagination  of 
man  had  ever  conceived;  and  the  only  religion  of  facts,  doctrines, 
and  morals,  which  this  supernatural  attestation  was  ever  employed 
to  estabhsh  ? 

The  unity  we  have  here,  is  not  only  one  of  positive  testimony, 
which  rival  pedictions  have  never  attempted,  and  one  of  internal 
concord  in  which  every  particular  deposes  something  connected 
with  the  great  subject  of  revelation,  but  one  of  progressive  de- 
velopment, in  which  a  mighty  seminal  truth  is  brought  forth  by 
each  succeeding  ray  of  prophetical  announcement,  until  the 
manifestation  fills  earth  and  heaven  with  the  grandeur  of  its  com- 
plete  significance.     "  The  test'unony  of  Jesus  is  the  spirit  of 


PROPHECY.  131 

prophecy P  He  is  the  grand  subject,  sum,  and  centre :  there  is 
not  a  word  in  this  great  volume  of  prophetical  wonder  which  does 
not  relate  to  Him,  in  his  person,  character,  or  kingdom. 

Now,  one  prophecy  such  as  we  have  thus  far  defined,  would  be 
sufficient  to  commend  a  revelation — would  be  itself  a  revelation ; 
and  when  hundreds  of  such  prophecies  on  every  variety  of  sub- 
ject, interesting  and  important  to  man.  combine,  without  a  contra- 
diction, to  challenge  our  faith,  we  must  concede  there  is  some- 
thing supernatural  in  the  claim.  But  when  this  great  variety  is 
all  convergent  and  unique,  each  particular  prediction  radiating 
illustration  upon  all  the  rest,  each  past  fulfilment  sustaining  the 
expectation  of  a  future,  and  all,  though  scattered  along  scores  of 
centuries  in  their  track,  ever  pointing  to  a  great  refulgent  centre, 
beaming  with  light,  and  love,  and  immortality,  for  man — who 
will  compute  the  force  of  this  demonstration,  or  doubt  that  the 
system  is  entirely  from  God,  omniscient  and  omnipotent? 

Try  the  cavils  and  objections  of  infidelity  by  the  touchstone  of 
this  peerless  unity. 

Is  it  said,  that  other  well-authenticated  instances  of  successful 
augury  and  prophecy,  in  ancient  and  in  modern  times,  are  so  in- 
explicable, that  we  may  well  decline  investigating  similar  mys- 
teries in  the  Bible?  We  answer,  that,  because  irregularities 
appear  in  every  department  of  nature  which  cannot  be  explained, 
you  might  just  as  well  decline  the  study  of  her  laws,  that  cannot 
surpass  her  strange  anomalies,  either  in  number  or  consistency, 
more  than  the  perfect  prophecies  of  scripture  surpass,  in  variety 
and  system,  those  casual  mysteries  of  soothsaying  which  could 
stand  authenticated  if  the  world  had  taken  pains  to  search  them 
out  with  the  rigor  of  historical  exactness.  Far  better  say,  that, 
because  the  comet  is  not  traced  with  satisfaction  through  its 
eccentric  flight  in  the  abyss  of  heaven,  therefore,  we  need  not 
watch  the  planetary  orbits,  or  care  to  investigate  the  ordinary 
movements  of  our  solar  system.  Is  it  said,  that  man's  free 
agency,  as  a  moral  creature,  is  subverted  by  the  notion  of  such  a 
particular  and  almighty  exercise  of  Providence  as  the  sure  fulfil- 
ment of  inspired  prophecy  involves  ?  We  answer,  that,  the  freest 
agency  of  man  is  that  which  acts  under  the  government  of  laws 
in  the  regular  administration  of  a  system ;  and  it  is  the  casual 
and  aimless  prediction  only,  which  could  by  irregular  accomplish- 
ment, infringe  upon  his  freedom.  But  when  you  see  his  destiny 
involved  in  the  complications  of  such  a  system  as  this,  a  trans- 


132  propjIecy. 

dipt  from  the  counsels  of  eternity,  so  full  of  grace,  for  the  de- 
velopment of  which  the  world  itself  is  but  a  platform,  and  time  a 
handmaid  to  unroll  its  resolutions,  we  might  better  say,  it  is  free- 
dom to  will  and  act  beyond  the  dictates  of  nature  and  reason, 
than  beyond  the  purview  of  this  influence. 

But  the  double  mea7iing,  so  prevalent  in  these  predictions,  we 
are  told,  is  no  better  than  the  ambiguity  of  pagan  oracles.  This 
cavil,  besides  being  logically  unfair,  is  at  once  confuted  by  the 
view  of  that  connection  which  binds  together  all  ages  and  all 
events  in  one  great  consummation.  Here,  "  the  double  sense" 
can  never  mean  that  either  of  two  possible  events  may  fulfil  a 
prophecy,  but  that  both  of  them  must  fulfil  it.  Nothing,  in  fact, 
more  clearly  bespeaks  the  authorship  in  God  himself,  than  this 
very  manifoldness  in  the  fulfilment  of  his  word,  evincing  that 
the  true  speaker  must  have  had  an  infinite  comprehension  and 
disposal  too,  of  agencies  at  work  in  the  world,  when  he  could 
frame  a  promise  or  a  threat  with  such  expression,  as  to  embrace 
many  similar  events  (while  chiefly  referring  to  but  one)  which 
would  be  effectuated  by  the  most  dissimilar  means,  and  in  the 
most  diversified  and  unequal  circumstances.  Let  the  objector 
mark,  that  the  great  hypothesis  on  which  we  argue  is  the  identity 
of  authorship  in  prophecy  and  providence.  God  only  could  or- 
dain affinity  between  the  deliverance  from  Egyptian  bondage, 
and  that  from  Babylonish  captivity,  and  that  from  Syrian  cruelty, 
and  that  from  heathenish  darkness,  and  that  from  Antichristian 
despotism ;  and  when  we  find  that  one  primordial  prophecy  will 
include  this  whole  kindred  series  of  events  to  come,  and  a  later 
one  will  make  the  first  of  the  series  when  fulfilled  an  historical 
basis,  for  the  metaphors  with  which  the  remaining  mercies  are 
predicted,  and  for  the  hope  with  which  they  are  expected,  must 
we  not,  so  far  from  stumbling  on  a  doubtfulness  in  the  double 
sense,  perceive  that  it  is  the  very  stamp  of  God's  foreknowledge, 
as  it  is  the  earnest  of  his  own  unfailing  faithfulness?  Who  will 
say,  again,  that  the  warning  voice  of  Moses,  when  he  foretold 
the  terrible  details  of  punishment,  which  would  await  the  apos- 
tasy of  Israel,  was  less  divinely  prophetic,  because  his  word 
would  suit  a  thousand  dispersions  of  the  Jews,  which  have  oc- 
curred since  it  was  uttered;  or  the  proud  elevation  of  "  the 
stranger"  in  their  land,  either  in  the  yoke  of  Chaldean,  or  Syrian, 
or  Roman,  or  Turkish  oppression  ;  or  "  the  tender  and  delicate 
woman"  eating  her  own  offspring,  in  the  straitness  of  the  siege, 


PKOPHECY.  133 

when  it  was  accomplished  in  the  siege  of  Samaria,  and  in  the 
siege  of  Jerusalem,  nearly  a  thousand  years  asunder,  and  the  first 
more  than  a  thousand  years  after  the  prophet ;  or  the  insult  and 
wrong,  to  which  they- would  be  doomed,  when  these  were  done 
continually,  from  the  days  of  Nebuchadnezzar,  to  those  of 
Frederick  the  Great  in  Prussia  ? 

Without  a  thread  of  system,  such  oracular  skill  had  been  in- 
finitely beyond  the  forecast  of  Apollo,  that  never  framed  even  an 
equivocation,  without  appearances  of  near  probability  :  but  when 
we  see  it  travel  down  a  pathway  of  development,  in  every  age, 
grouping  sequences,  of  more  and  more  definite  and  brilliant  at- 
testation ;  by  which  an  honest  faith  is  nourished,  from  the  first 
apprehension  of  an  ancient  promise,  till  the  last  exultation  of 
joy,  when  "  the  mystery  of  God  is  finished"  and  '•  the  headstone 
is  brought  forth  with  shoutings" — its  double  sense  is  only  double 
demonstration,  that  the  inspiration  of  the  Almighty  must  have 
given  it  the  very  words.  So  thought  Lord  Bacon  :  and  speaking 
of  these  prophecies,  considered  in  their  double  sense,  he  says, 
"  They  are  of  the  nature  of  the  Author,  with  whom  a  thousand 
years  are  as  one  day  ;  and  therefore,  they  are  not  fulfilled  punc- 
tually at  once,  but  have  a  springing  and  germinant  accomplish- 
ment, throughout  many  ages,  though  the  height  and  fulness  of 
them  may  refer  to  one  age." 

Thus,  also,  is  explained  the  hyperbole,  with  which  the  prophets 
describe  comparatively  small  events,  near  to  be  fulfilled,  in  terms 
that  seem  to  be  out  of  all  proportion  to  their  importance.  It  is  the 
splendor  of  an  ultimate  event,  in  the  chain  of  homogeneous 
benefits,  of  which  the  nearer  one,  however  humble,  is  an  earnest 
and  precursor,  that  suffuses,  in  this  way,  the  rapt  prevision  of  the 
seer.  Had  there  been  a  prophet  commissioned  a  century  since, 
as  in  the  old  theocracy,  to  counsel  the  governors  of  Virginia,  in 
times  of  fear  and  trouble,  and  promise  them  a  triumph  over 
French  and  savage  hostilities  upon  the  border,  portraying  the 
peace  and  prosperity  which  would  follow  such  a  vindication — 
how  naturally  would  the  prophet,  on  the  supposition  of  a  divine 
afflatus,  revealing  the  future,  indefinitely,  in  regard  to  all  events 
of  the  same  prosperous  kind,  describe  the  proximate  deliverances 
predicted  for  the  colony,  in  a  style  of  magniloquent  expression, 
borrowed  from  the  ulterior  glories  of  this  great  Republic,  in  which 
the  nascent  commonwealth  he  came  to  comfort,  would  bear  a 
great  proportion.     Just  in  this  way,  was  many  a  temporal  mercy 


134  PROPHECY. 

promised  to  the  visible  church,  under  the  old  dispensation ;  the 
ultimate  and  crowning  mercy  under  Christ  peering  on  the 
prophet's  soul,  with  enrapturing  and  often  abrupt  captivation, 
which  he  himself  did  not  fully  understand. 

And  why  should  any  man  of  literary  taste  and  culture  object  to 
the  secondary  sense  in  prophecy,  w^ien  it  is  the  charm  of  genius 
in  the  earth-born  inspirations  of  epic  and  dramatic  poetry  ?  Take 
from  the  ^neid  of  Virgil  a  pervading  allusion  to  Augustus  Caesar, 
and  what  an  insipidity  of  import  is  left  to  the  whole  design,  as 
well  as  many  a  most  beautiful  passage.  Take  from  the  Divina 
Commedia  of  Dante  the  political  factions  of  Florence,  and  what 
a  crude  conceit  would  be  many  a  terrible  coruscation.  Take 
from  the  Fairy  dueen  of  Spenser  the  reign  and  court  of  Eliza- 
beth, and  what  remains  to  give  it  soul  or  immortality  ?  There 
is,  in  short,  through  all  the  best  creations  of  human  genius,  an 
intense  endeavor  after  that  very  perfection  which  infidelity  repu- 
diates in  the  prophecies  of  celestial  inspiration — a  double  sense — 
a  primary  import,  which  profits  and  pleases,  most  of  all,  because 
it  bears  to  the  understanding  a  secondary  import,  on  which  the 
whole  production  rests,  as  an  ultimate  basis  of  unity  and  mean- 
ing, without  which  the  book  would  never  have  been  written,  and 
would  soon  cease  to  be  read  or  understood. 

It  is  this  central  unity  and  perfect  system,  again,  which  will 
explain  the  confinement  of  prophecy  to  one  nation,  and  that  one 
comparatively  obscure  in  secular  history,  undistinguished  by  arts 
or  arms,  commerce  or  wealth,  though  seated  in  the  most  conspicu- 
ous place  upon  the  globe  of  ancient  geography.  The  gaze  of  all 
men  must  be  fixed  on  this  peculiar  people,  for  one  thing  alone : 
"To  them,"  said  Philo,  "was  intrusted  the  prophetical  office  for 
all  mankind."  Had  these  prophecies  been  scattered  among  many 
different  nations,  how  impossible  would  it  have  been  to  see  the 
beautiful  connection  and  convergent  meaning,  which  give  them 
all  their  true  significance:  or  had  they  been  imparted  to  a  people 
renowned  for  learning,  like  the  Greeks,  or  political  greatness,  like 
the  Latins,  how  much  would  they  have  been  overlooked  and  neg- 
lected in  the  groves  of  the  academy,  the  bustle  of  senates,  and  the 
turmoil  of  camps.  But  imparted  to  one  people,  whose  whole  des- 
tiny was  the  conservation  of  this  lone  deposit,  how  comprehen- 
sively might  all  men  see  the  unity  and  truth  of  revealed  rehgion, 
when  its  light  was  matured  at  length  for  universal  promulgation, 


PROPHECY.  135 

and  its  slowly  concentered  sun  broke  forth,  like  the  gathered  liguL- 
ning  of  heaven,  to  shine  from  one  end  of  the  world  to  the  other. 

6.  It  is  required,  that  these  prophecies  he  commensurate  ivith 
all  time :  the  past,  the  present,  and  the  future,  being  covered 
alike  with  the  scope  of  their  full  annunciation.  However  per- 
fectly connected  all  events  may  be  in  this  prophetical  economy, 
no  experience  or  learning  can  ever  enable  any  man  to  foretell  the 
recurrence  of  similar  events :  for  this  mighty  system,  whose 
centre  is  Christ,  has  only  one  cycle  for  the  world  to  see,  and  that, 
the  duration  of  the  world  itself:  so  that  there  is  no  repetition  of 
the  same  things,  in  a  series  of  cycles,  as  some  have  vainly  ima- 
gined ;  but  all  is  progress,  in  a  line  of  plainer  and  plainer  develop- 
ment, until  time  shall  be  no  longer. 

You  ask  for  miracles  continued.  Here  they  are — witliout  dis- 
turbing nature — in  the  continued  accomplishment  of  ancient 
prophecy ;  which  will  go  on  to  confirm  the  truth  of  our  holy  reli- 
gion, with  new  demonstrations,  till  the  end  of  the  world.  Nor 
will  these  consist  in  new  disclosures,  merely,  of  old  attestations, 
dug  from  the  dust,  or  read  from  the  hieroglyphic,  by  Layards, 
Champollions,  and  Ghddons  ;  but  in  mighty  deeds,  which  are  yet  to 
be  done  by  the  faithful  Providence  of  God — the  downfall  of  Anti- 
christ from  his  throne  of  spiritual  despotism — the  conversion  of 
the  Jews  from  their  hardened  infidelity — the  extension  of  the 
gospel  over  all  benighted  paganism — the  return  of  peace,  and 
unity,  and  love  to  the  Avhole  distracted  body  of  the  faithful. 
These  are  some  of  the  magnificent  things  which  prophecy  has 
promised,  to  the  hope  of  our  day  ;  and  all  of  them,  you  will  say,  ■ 
quite  improbable  to  the  anticipations  of  reason.  What,  then, 
must  you  think  of  a  religion  Avhich  would  venture  to  promise 
them — in  an  open  Bible,  scattered  abroad  over  mountain  and  val- 
ley, as  dew-drops  of  the  morning?  Either  it  has  nothing  to  lose 
in  losing  veracity,  or  it  is  more  than  human.  Surely,  no  religion 
of  man  would  hazard  what  ours  has  gained,  and  possesses,  on 
such  obvious  uncertainties,  for  such  prospective  advantages. 
Where  are  all  your  soothsayers  now?  Or,  have  they  left  a  frag- 
ment of  vaticination  on  this  earth,  to  bide  the  trial  of  a  coming 
accomplishment?  Why,  like  Elijah  of  old,  are  we  left  alone  at 
this  altar,  to  call  down  this  fire,  and  forecast  the  future  time, 
through  all  the  sahent  points,  and  eventful  epochs,  that  are  to  fill 
the  remaining  volumes  of  the  world's  great  history?  "Lively 
oracles,"  indeed,  they  are,  ever  glowing  in  the  heart  of  piety,  ever 


136  PROPHECY. 

gliding"  in  the  hand  of  Providence.  Ask  me  not  for  living  prophets 
on  the  very  eve  of  these  great  changes.  We  would  rather  have 
the  ancient — whose  expression,  like  old  wine,  is  all  the  better  for  a 
voyage  over  many  billows  of  intervening  revolution,  and  half  the 
globe,  in  the  time  of  its  duration.  Tell  me  not  that  Augustan 
civilization  saw  the  end  of  them,  and  with  its  searching  glance 
of  light  put  them  to  silence  forever.  Precisely  then  they  broke 
the  silence  of  many  centuries,  and  ceased  not  their  proclama- 
tions until  the  keystone  was  fixed  in  the  arch,  and  all  remaining 
time  was  spanned  with  its  extension. 

7.  It  is  required,  that  they  he  'philanthropic  and  benign. 
When  the  Cumsean  Sibyl  came  to  Tarquin  with  her  books,  which 
were  nine  in  number,  she  offered  to  sell  them  for  a  price  which 
the  tyrant  deemed  enormous,  and  refused.  She  disappeared  im- 
mediately, and  destroyed  three  books ;  and  then  came  back,  de- 
manding as  much  for  the  remaining  six  as  for  the  nine.  It  was 
again  refused,  and  she  retired  in  wrath  to  burn  three  more  ;  and 
then  returned  to  ask  as  much  for  the  remaining  three  as  for  the 
whole  original  number — thus  withholding  from  Rome,  and  from 
the  world,  what  the  gods  had  commissioned  her  to  write,  because 
•3he  could  not  obtain  her  price  in  gold.  This  legend  illustrates, 
far  too  faintly,  the  notorious  venality  and  avarice  of  all  heathen 
oracles.  The  poor  man  could  never  obtain  responses  from  the 
Delphic  Apollo.  The  rich  man  was  swindled  by  a  hundred 
frauds,  enjoining  new  lustrations,  additional  sacrifices,  and  cost- 
lier gifts ;  and  after  all,  dismissing  the  tantalized  victim  without 
•  an  answer,  as  often  as  the  case  admitted  of  no  safe  equivocation. 
And  even  when  the  tripod,  or  the  cave,  did  respond  with  its  best 
articulation ;  and  the  pillaged  votary  obtained  the  most  formal 
and  categorical  answer  to  his  anxious  query  ;  what  hope  was 
soothed,  what  misery  assuaged,  what  virtue  strengthened,  and 
what  vice  reformed?  Only  the  cruel  projects  of  ambition,  or  the 
horrid  necessities  of  war  and  crime,  came  to  those  impure  retreats 
for  counsel  and  encouragement. 

How  different  the  prophets  of  the  living  God.  No  bribe  could 
buy  a  Balaam,  when  filled  with  the  impulse  of  their  true  inspira- 
tion. Not  even  a  servant  to  their  persons,  dared  accept  a  trifling 
present,  from  the  richest  beneficiary,  without  being  blasted  with 
leprosy  for  life.  How^  calm,  and  kind,  and  frank,  and  dignified,  as 
well  as  earnest  and  disinterested  !  And  how  pure  the  morality 
always  inculcated.     The  primary  object  of  inspired  prophecy,  was 


PROPHECT.  187 

the  publication  of  absolute  and  eternal  principles  of  truth  and 
righteousness,  as  they  are  centred  and  sanctioned  in  the  Lord 
Jesus  Christ :  and  disclosures  of  futurity  were  added,  because  He 
was  future,  in  respect  to  incarnation,  and  because  these  were 
needful,  in  every  age,  to  secure  a  credit  for  the  lessons  of  redeem- 
ing truth.  Like  the  miracles  of  Christ,  they  were  twice  blessed ; 
they  always  had  a  present  benefit  to  work,  while  founding  a  sohd 
deposition  for  the  faith  of  future  ages ;  always  some  hope  to 
cherish,  or  sadness  to  cheer — some  oppression  to  rebuke,  or  wick- 
edness to  warn,  while  furnishing  the  latest  days,  with  bulwarks 
of  evidence  for  the  truth  of  this  holy  religion— which  time  was 
deputed  to  build  out  and  up,  until  she  herself  would  find  a  sepul- 
chre, in  some  crypt  of  their  deep  foundations. 

8.  They  must^  after  all,  transcend  the  requisitiotis  of  human 
reason.  We  have  now  gone  over,  as  we  thint,  all  the  conditions, 
which  man  could  dictate,  for  the  full  persuasion  of  his  mind,  that 
prophecy  is  divine  and  supernatural,  and  that,  therefore,  the  re- 
ligion it  authenticates  must  be  of  God,  true,  and  holy,  and  all 
important.  The  claim  must  be  woven  on  its  face,  and  published 
in  advance — the  terms  must  be,  in  the  main,  so  purely  enigmati- 
cal, as  to  bar  any  conscious  causation  of  their  own  accomplish- 
ment :  and  yet  significant  enough,  meanwhile,  to  answer  the 
present  need  of  faith  and  hope. — There  must  be  some  mark  of 
specialty  concealed  among  the  terms,  which  the  fulfilment  will 
recognize,  beyond  a  doubt,  wherever  there  is  knowledge  enough  to 
read  the  symbols,  and  observe  aright  the  facts  of  history. — There 
must  be  great  number  and  variety  ;  so  that  no  chance  may  ac- 
count for  the  completion  of  all,  and  no  failure  of  recognition,  in 
some  cases,  jeopard  the  utility  and  force  of  the  whole  conclusion. 
They  must  be  connected  in  a  system,  which  is  worthy  of  infinite 
design,  in  which  they  have  a  great  scheme  to  develop ;  where 
every  particular  instance  will  shed  light  on  every  other  instance, 
and  the  most  occult,  and  indirect,  and  secondary  meaning,  may 
be  made  the  ultimate  strength  and  beauty  of  the  whole.  They 
must  always  grow  in  demonstration,  and  gratify  the  demand  for 
marvels,  in  every  age,  miracle  without  suspending  nature's  laws ; 
which  they  continually  work,  as  new  fulfilments  of  ancient 
prophecy  occur.  They  must  be  ever  benignant,  disinterested 
and  pure,  without  a  single  taint  of  selfishness,  or  meanness,  or 
corruption  in  morals.  These  are  your  requisitions ;  and  all  of 
them  reasonable,  considering  the  high  claims  of  my  subject ;  and 


138  PROPHECY. 

are  they  not  more  than  met,  in  the  exuberant  perfections  of  in- 
spired prophecy  ? 

It  may  be,  tliat  I  have  failed,  for  want  of  time,  or  ability,  or 
both,  to  meet  objections  rightly,  with  that  ample  and  adequate 
solution,  which  the  subject  fairly  affords.  But  I  am  sure,  your 
faith  would  not  be  satisfied,  if  I  had  succeeded  in  relieving  reason 
from  her  whole  embarrassment  with  prophecy:  for  its  very  nature 
implies  an  immediate  communication,  of  an  infinite  mind  to  finite 
minds,  and  therefore  some  incomprehensibility,  which,  for  us  to 
remove,  would  be  the  greatest  failure  that  could  occur,  in  such 
investigation.  It  would  be  not  to  solve  a  problem,  in  the  way  of 
lodging  light  in  the  soul ;  but  to  dissolve  a  link,  which  connects 
our  theme  itself  with  the  source  of  all  light  and  knowledge.  It 
cannot  be  from  God,  and  yet  circumscribed  by  man.  The  only 
discussion,  that  dares  to  tread  the  whole  circumference  of  its  con- 
nections, is  absurd  Neology — which  always  begs  the  question,  in 
order  to  deny  it — which  would  quench  the  sun,  at  meridian  day, 
for  no  other  reason,  than  because  it  is  fixed  in  heaven,  and  take 
a  lamp  through  the  universe,  because  it  is  portable  to  "  the  crit- 
ical feeling." 

We  may  not  comprehend,  how  the  soul  of  man  is  subject  to  the 
heavenly  aflflatus ;  how  the  peculiarity  of  each  prophet's  genius 
and  taste,  should  be  suffered  to  tinge  the  pure  revelation  of  God  by 
his  mouth  ;  or  how  he  could  faithfully  and  fully  enunciate  times 
and  events  which  he  did  not  himself  understand.  We  may  not 
comprehend,  why  the  centre  of  prophecy  was  fixed  just  where  it 
is,  in  the  progressions  of  time ;  why  the  promise  of  God  to  the 
Fathers,  was  placed  so  dimly  and  distantly  before  them,  and  the 
triumphs  of  the  great  accomplishment  with  us,  have  been  so  par- 
tial, and  slow,  and  clouded  in  prospect — a  thousand  minor  em- 
barrassments like  these  may  spring  up,  which  this  man  and  that 
may  answer  or  not,  to  his  own  satisfaction,  and  that  of  others. 
But  we  answer  them  all,  with  the  simple  averment,  that,  were 
they  a  hundred-fold  more  embarrassing  and  dark,  they  would  only 
confirm  the  conviction  of  well-regulated  reason,  with  the  crown- 
ing demonstration  they  afford,  of  God's  finger — whose  traces  can- 
not be  perfectly  explained,  unless  the  finite  can  measure  the  in- 
finite, or  human  reason,  like  the  Aeon  of  Valentinus,  in  her  vain 
ambition  to  comprehend  the  Almighty,  should  propagate  a  Demi- 
urge from  heaven,  whose  hand  detailed  the  Jewish  prophets,  and 
whose  work  of  perversion,  and  prophecy,  alike,  the  Christ  came 


PROPHECY.  139 

only  to  destro)^  Wicked  absurdity,  or  silly  fable,  must  always  be 
the  refuge  of  that  proud  wisdom,  which  doubts  the  attestation  of 
divinity,  because  the  signet  of  Omniscience  is  not  altogether  like 
our  own ;  because  a  part  of  his  ways  must  be  the  limit  of  his 
condescension ;  and  because  he  would  incite  our  trust  and  ad- 
miration, through  a  whole  eternity,  by  the  simple  and  sublime 
conviction,  that  "  we  shall  know,  if  we  follow  on  to  know  the 
Lord." 


'31 


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"W- 


"W.^ 


J 


«>r^ 


Cjie  Mliaritij  nf  tjie  liirrti  Cannn, 


THE  INTEGRITY  OF  THE  SACKED  TEXT 


TWO    LECTURES. 


KEY.  F.  S.  SAMPSOK,  D.D., 


PROFESSOR    OF    ORIENTAL    LITERATORE    IN   UNIOK   THEOLCGICAL   SEMINARY. 


I. 


Respected  Audience — 

With  hearty  good-will  and  real  pleasure,  and  yet  not  with- 
out feelings  of  sadness,  I  revisit  the  scenes  of  one  of  the  most 
delightful  periods  of  my  life.  It  was  here  that  I  received  my  first 
lessons  in  science  from  venerated  instructors,  most  of  whom  have 
gone  to  other  fields ;  some  of  them — alas,  how  soon  and  sud- 
denly ! — to 

"  That  undiscovered  country,  from  whose  bourn 
No  traveller  returns." 

I  came  here  a  babe  in  Christ.  The  first  five  years  of  my  new  and 
better  life  were  spent  within  these  classic  walls.  Sacred  hours,  and 
sacred  spots,  and  Christian  friends,  and  youthful  associates,  are 
fondly  remembered  still.  I  would  thank  God  that,  through  my 
brief  life,  the  lines  have  fallen  to  me  in  pleasant  places :  but  I 
have  seen  few  better  days  than  I  have  seen  amid  these  scenes 
and  friends  of  my  youth. 

Amongst  these  especially  dear  were  those  with  whom,  when  as 
yet  there  was  here  no  Ambassador  of  God,  no  Sanctuary,  no 
Bible  Society,  no  Sabbath-school, — I  might  almost  say,  no  Sab- 
bath,— in  our  lonely  dormitory  I  often  met,  and  spake,  and  prayed 
for  better  days  to  our  beloved  Alma  Mater.  The  days  came 
sooner  than  we  had  believed.  God  was  with  us.  The  little  seed 
germinated  and  grew :  and  watered  and  fostered  by  his  care,  it 
became  a  tree  with  goodly  branches  and  some  precious  fruit.  I 
rejoice  that  it  still  lives  and  flourishes ;  and  count  it  one  of  the 
most  delightful  privileges  of  my  life,  to  return  in  my  maturer, 
though  scarcely  realized  manhood,  and  endeavor  to  contribute 
something  towards  helping  this  tree  to  strike  deeper  its  roots,  to 
spread  wider  its  branches,  and  to  bear  more  abundant  and  yet 
more  precious  fruit. 

I  am  called  to  maintain  before  you  the  authority  of  the  Sacred 
Canon   and  the  integrity  of  the  Sacred   Text,   as   part   of  a 


144  THE  AUTHOEITY   OF  THE  SACRED  CAN'ON. 

Course  of  Lectures  on  the  Evidences  of  Christianity,  The  sub- 
ject is  both  copious  and  difficult,  and  might  well  have  demanded 
me  to  enter  immediately  on  its  discussion.  But  I  could  not  deny 
myself,  and  you,  I  trust,  will  excuse  these  brief  introductory 
reminiscences.     I  proceed  now  to  the  duty  assigned  me. 

I  propose,  then,  so  to  present  the  history  and  authority  of  the 
Sacred  Scriptures,  and  the  history,  preservation,  and  integrity  of 
the  text,  as  to  show  them  to  be  the  Word  of  God,  and  Chris- 
tianity to  be  divine.  In  order  to  make  the  argument  as  short, 
and  yet  as  comprehensive  and  conclusive  as  possible,  I  shall  en- 
deavor to  maintain  a  series  of  propositions,  which  involve  all 
that  is  essential  to  a  just  view  of  the  subject. 

I.  My  first  proposition  is,  that  the  Books  of  the  New  Testament 
are  ge7iuine :  that  is,  they  were  written,  as  they  profess  to  have 
been  written,  by  the  Apostles  and  attendants  on  the  Apostles  of 
our  Lord  Jesus  Christ. 

Christianity  at  our  day  is  a  great  fact,  wide-spread  over  the 
world.  We  trace  it  back  through  every  generation  to  the  days 
of  Augustus  Caesar,  and  find  its  origin  in  a  crucified  Jew. 
Tacitus  and  Suetonius,  both  reliable  historians  who  flourished  in 
little  more  than  fifty  years  after  the  time,  give  unequivocal  testi- 
mony on  the  subject.  The  former  tells  us,  in  his  Annals,*  that 
"  Christus,  in  the  reign  of  Tiberius,  was  put  to  death  as  a  crim- 
inal by  the  procurator,  Pontius  Pilate :  that  he  originated  a  re- 
ligiont  in  Judea,  which,  though  checked  for  a  while,  broke  out 
again  and  spread  through  Judea,  and  soon  extended  to  Rome : 
that  his  followers  from  him  were  called  Christia7is,  and  were 
very  numerous  at  Rome  in  the  reign  of  Nero  (some  thirty  years 
after  his  death) :  that  here  thay  were  exceedingly  hated  as  crimi- 
nal, and  yet  were  subjected  by  the  emperor,  in  order  to  avert 
from  himself  the  infamy  of  having  commanded  the  city  to  be  set 
on  fire,  and  to  gratify  his  own  wanton  cruelty  rather  than  to  pro- 
mote the  public  welfare,  to  such  grievous  and  numerous  suffer- 
ings as  to  excite  the  commiseration  of  the  people."  The  latter, 
in  his  life  of  Nero,+  says,  that  "  the  Christians  were  punished, — a 
sort  of  men  of  a  new  and  magical  (or  perniciousj)  superstition." 
Upon  the  testimony  of  Tacitus,  the  infidel  Gibbon  remarks : 
"  The  most  skeptical  criticism  is  obliged  to  respect  the  truth  of 
this  extraordinary  fact,  II  and  the  integrity  of  this  celebrated  pas- 

*  Tacit.  Annal.  xv.  44.  f  Superstitio.  X  Sueton.  Nero.  xvi. 

§  Maleficje.  |  That  is,  the  persecution  of  the  Cliristians. 


THE   AUTHORITY   OF   THE   SACKED   CANON.  145 

sage  of  Tacitus.  Tlie  former  is  confirmed  by  the  diligent  and 
accurate  Suetonius,  who  mentions  the  punishment  which  Neio 
inflicted  on  the  Christians,  'a  sect  of  men  who  had  embraced  a 
new  and  criminal  superstition.'  The  latter  may  be  proved  by 
(he  consent  of  the  most  ancient  manuscripts  ;  by  the  inimitable 
character  of  the  style  of  Tacitus  ;  by  his  reputation,  which 
guarded  his  text  from  the  interpolations  of  pious  fraud ;  and  by 
the  purport  of  his  narration,  which  accused  the  first  Christians 
of  the  most  atrocious  crimes,  without  insinuating  that  they  pos- 
sessed any  miraculous  or  even  magical  powers  above  the  rest  of 
mankind."  Pliny,  the  younger,  who  lived  about  the  same  time, 
while  Governor  of  Pontus  and  Bithynia  (a.d.  107),  wrote  a 
letter*  to  Trajan,  the  emperor,  requesting  advice  as  to  the  proper 
manner  of  proceeding  against  tlie  Christians.  From  this  letter 
we  learn,  that  "they  were  now  (some  seventy  years  after  Christ) 
very  numerous  in  those  regions,  embracing  every  age  and  rank 
and  sex,  and  pervading,  not  only  the  cities,  but  the  lesser  towns 
and  the  open  country  also  :  that  they  were  brought  before  the 
civil  tribunals,  and  tried  for  no  crime  but  their  Christianity,  and 
punished  for  their  obstinacy  if  they  refused  to  abjure  it :  that  it 
appeared  from  these  investigations,  that  they  were  wont  to  meet 
together  on  a  stated  day,  and  sing  among  themselves  a  hymn  to 
Christ  as  God,  and  to  eat  a  meal  in  common,  but  without  any 
disorder ;  and  to  bind  themselves  by  a  solemn  oath  (sacramento), 
not  to  commit  wickedness,  but  to  abstain  from  theft,  and  robbery, 
and  adultery,  and  falsehood,  and  unfaithfulness ;  while  they 
steadfastly  refused  to  invoke  the  gods,  and  to  make  supphcation 
before  the  emperor's  image  :  and  that  by  their  influence  the  tem- 
ples had  become  almost  forsaken,  the  sacred  solemnities  inter- 
mitted, and  victims  went  begging  for  purchasers  :" — all  which,  you 
cannot  but  observe,  while,  like  the  other  passages,  it  proves  the 
remarkable  spread  of  Christianity  and  the  cruel  persecutions  of 
the  early  Christians,  throws  not  a  little  light  on  the  atrocious 
crimes  oi  which  Gibbon  speaks  as  charged  by  Tacitus  upon  them, 
and  on  the  pernicious  character  which  Suetonius  ascribes  to  the 
neio  superstition. 

Now  it  is  every  way  probable  that  one  who  had  successfully 
founded  such  a  society,  would,  either  by  his  own  hands  or  the 
hands  of  his  more  intimate  and  chosen  disciples,  give  out  his  doc- 
trines and  precepts  in  writing.     It  is  every  way  probable  that 

«  Plin.  Ep.  b.  X.  ep.  97. 
10 


146  'IHE   AUTHORITY   OF   THE   SACRED   CANON". 

such  writings  would  be  highly  valued  by  all  his  followers :  and 
that  as  the  sect  multiplied  and  spread,  copies  of  these  writings 
would  also  be  multiplied  and  spread  ;  and  that  they  would  be 
carefully  preserved,  and  constantl)^  appealed  to,  as  the  standard 
of  opinion  and  practice  acknowledged  by  all  of  the  new  persua- 
sion. 

Our  New  Testament  Canon  contains  no  book  that  professes  to 
have  been  written  by  Christ.  It  consists,  as  you  know,  oi  Jive 
Historical  Books,  twenty- one  Epistolary,  and  one  Prophetical. 
Of  the  Historical  Books,  four,  called  Gospels,  are  ascribed  to 
Matthew,  Mark,  Luke,  and  John,  and  contain  brief  histories  of 
the  birth,  doctrines,  works,  death,  and  resurrection  of  Christ ;  and 
i\\&  fifth,  called  the  Acts,  and  also  ascribed  to  Luke,  contains  an 
account  of  Christ's  ascension  to  heaven,  of  the  early  propaga- 
tion of  his  principles,  and  organization  of  his  church  by  his  dis- 
ciples amongst  both  .Tews  and  Gentiles,  and  of  the  miraculous  con- 
version and  call,  and  subsequent  labors  of  Paul  till  his  imprison- 
ment at  Rome.  Of  the  Epistles, /owr/eeyi  are  ascribed  to  Paul; 
and  the  remaining  seven,  called  Catholic,  are  ascribed  one  to 
James, /ii?o  to  Peter,  three  to  John,  and  one  to  Jude.  These  were 
all  written  on  different  occasions,  to  different  churches  and  indi- 
viduals, and  contain  further  developments  of  the  doctrines  and 
precepts  which  Christ  would  have  to  govern  his  Church.  The 
only  Prophetical  Book,  the  Revelation,  is  ascribed  to  John,  the 
author  of  the  Gospel  and  the  three  Epistles.  Of  these  authors, 
all  were  Apostles  of  Christ,  duly  commissioned  to  go  forth  and 
teach,  and  do  mighty  works  in  his  name,  excepting  two,  Mark 
and  Luke.  These,  according  to  the  books  themselves,  and  all 
ancient  tradition,  were  attendants  on  the  Apostles, — or,  as  the 
Fathers  called  them,  apostolical  men,  who  wrote  with  the  knowl- 
edge and  approbation  of  the  Apostles. 

While,  then,  none  of  the  books  profess  to  have  been  written  by 
Christ,  all  of  them  are  handed  down  to  us  as  from  the  Apostles 
and  apostolical  men.  From  what  I  have  already  said,  it  must 
be  admitted  that  there  is  no  presumption  against  their  genuineness  ; 
but  the  presumption  is  decidedly  in  their  favor.  It  is  obvious, 
from  the  very  inspection  of  the  books,  that  they  were  written  at 
different  times  and  .places,  to  different  churches  and  individuals, 
on  various  doctrinal  and  practical  subjects,  just  as  circumstances 
called  for  them.  At  first,  therefore,  of  course,  they  were  separate, 
and  scattered  over  different  countries,  in  the  possession  of  the  dif- 


THE   AUTHORITY   OF  THE   SACREE    JANON.  147 

ferent  churches  and  individuals  to  whom  they  were  originally 
sent.  The  collection  of  them  into  one  volume  was  a  subsequent 
work, — upon  which  we  may  remark,  in  passing,  the  books  were, 
in  no  degree,  dependent  for  any  authority  to  which  they  might  be 
justly  entitled.  -AH  churches,  especially  those  Avhich  had  been 
founded  by  the  Apostles,  and  perhaps  had  received  of  their  wri- 
tings, such  as  those  of  Rome,*  Corinth,  Thessalonica,  Philippi, 
Ephesus,  Colossae,  Galatia,  and  all  private  Christians,  who  could 
defray  the  expense,  especially  those  who  had  been  conversant  with 
the  Apostles,  would  exert  themselves  to  obtain  copies  of  all  such 
writings  as  were  either  composed  or  sanctioned  by  them,  as  au- 
thoritative exponents  of  the  principles  of  the  great  Founder  of 
their  faith.  In  this  way,  there  would  soon  be  found  in  the  hands 
of  different  churches  and  private  individuals  more  or  less  complete 
collections  of  the  Sacred  Books.  Some  of  the  books,  we  may  sup- 
pose, Avould  come  more  slowly  into  general  circulation  than  oth- 
ers : — such,  for  example,  as  were  very  brief  and  comparatively/ 
unimportant ;  such  as  were  sent  to  private  persons,  and  therefore 
were  less  known  ;  such  as  were  very  obscure,  and  therefore  not 
so  much  read.  And  for  this  very  reason  that  they  had  at  first 
less  circulation,  were  less  known,  and  consequently  less  quoted, — 
as  well  as  for  other  reasons,— we  may  suppose  that  they  would 
afterv.'ards  be  more  or  less  doubted  by  churches  and  private  per- 
sons, who  desired  to  liave  only  the  genuine  works  of  the  Apostles 
and  such  as  were  endorsed  by  them.  After  due  time,  however, 
and  after  full  inquiry,  to  which  the  interest  that  was  felt  in  the 
books  would  naturally  prompt,  the  general  consent  would  become 
settled  on  the  books  which  ought  to  be  received  as  genuine :  and 
thus  the  Canon  of  the  Sacred  Books  would  finally  become  fixed 
and  acknowledged  in  the  church. — What  we  have  here  hypolheti- 
cally  imagined,  is  abundantly  confirmed  by  a  careful  examina- 
tion of  the  books  themselves,  and  by  the  statements  of  those  who 
lived  and  wrote  nearest  to  the  times  of  the  Apostles.  The  result, 
early  attained,  was,  that  the  books  which  we  now  have  were  the 
genuine  works  of  the  Apostles  and  their  attendants  who  wrote 
with  their  sanction. 

These  prefatory  remarks  will  prepare  the  way  for  the  evidence 
which  I  shall  now  exhibit  cf  the  genuineness  of  our  New  Testa- 
ment Canon.     I  shall  appeal  to  the  same  kind  of  testimony  that 

*  The  founders  of  the  churches  at  Rome  and  ColossaBare  not  known.  The  former 
certainly,  and  probably  the  latter,  enjoyed  the  ministrations  of  Paul 


148  THE    AUTHORITY   OF  THE   SACRED   CANON. 

we  appeal  to,  in  order  to  establish  the  genuineness  of  all  other 
books  that  have  come  down  to  us  from  antiquity.  I  shall  appeal 
not  to  the  decisions  of  General  Councils,  or  to  any  man,  or  any  set 
of  men,  as  invested  with  authority  from  heaven  to  declare  what 
books  proceeded  from  Apostles,  and  what  from  uninspired  men  : 
1  expressly  deny  that  there  ever  was  any  such  council  or  other 
luiman  tribunal,  invested  with  authority  from  God  to  settle  this 
question,  otherwise  than  by  the  evidence  which  may  be  fairly  ad- 
duced to  prove  the  genuineness  or  the  spuriousness  of  all  other 
ancient  books.  I  shall  appeal  to  the  marks  of  genuineness  which 
are  found  in  the  books  themselves,  and  to  the  testimony  of  those, 
whether  friends  or  foes,  who  lived  nearest  to  the  times  of  the 
writers,  and  who.  therefore,  had  the  best  opportunities  of  knowing 
what  they  wrote. 

A.  I  adduce,  then,  first,  the  internal  testimony.  Examine  the 
books  themselves,  and  you  find 

1.  The  language  and  style  such  as  altogether  to  favor  their 
genuineness.  The  language  clearly  shows  that  tliey  emanated 
from  Jews  who  spoke  Greek,  while  the  difference  in  style  proves 
beyond  all  doubt,  that  they  proceeded  from  different  authors. 

After  the  conquests  of  Alexander  the  Great,  the  various  dialects 
of  the  Greek  became,  as  you  know,  mingled,  and  this  mixed  or 
common  {koivt^  dialect,  as  it  was  called,  was  extensively  diffused 
over  the  East.  We  have  the  most  satisfactory  testimony,  espe- 
cially from  Josephus,  that  many  cities  in  Palestine  were,  in  large 
part,  inhabited  by  Greeks.  Jews  too,  who  were  born  in  foreign 
parts  and  spoke  Greek,  frequently  visited  the  land  and  city  and 
temple  of  their  fathers.  The  Herods  did  no  little  to  innovate 
Grecian  customs  ;  and  it  would  seem,  that,  while  the  Greek  was 
the  court-language  of  the  Romans  in  the  East,  even  the  Jewish 
Rabbins  were  not  unfavorable  to  its  use.  While,  therefore,  the 
Syro-Chaldaic,  or  Hebrew,  as  it  is  called  in  our  New  Testament, 
was  the  vernacular  tongue  of  the  Jews  who  resided  in  Palestine, 
Greek  was  certainly  very  extensively  spoken  as  the  language  of 
commerce.  But  the  Greek  thus  learnt,  from  the  intercourse  of 
common  life,  not  from  books,  and  spoken  by  Jews  residing  in  Pal- 
estine, must  largely  partake  of  the  idiom  of  their  native  tongue. 
From  the  Roman  dominion  too  over  the  country,  and  the  exten- 
sive and  easy  intercourse  that  was  then  carried  on  with  the  East 
and  the  different  parts  of  the  Roman  Empire,  we  would  expect 
some  traces  of  the  Latin  and  other  languages.     Such  precisely  is 


THE  AUTnOPJTY  OF  THE  SACRED  CANON.        149 

the  language  of  the  New  Testament.  It  is  the  common  Greek 
dialect  cunent  at  the  time,  of  which  Attic  was  the  base,  largely 
colored  by  the  Hebrew,  or  Syro-Chaldaic,  which  was  vernacular 
to  the  writers,  and  exhibiting  just  such  other  foreign  corruptions 
as  we  might  expect  to  find  in  such  writings.* 

All  acknowledge  the  diversity  of  style  in  the  different  books. 
Matthew's  style  is  very  different  from  that  of  Luke,  John's  from 
Paul's,  James'  from  Peter's.  The  style,  too,  corresponds  strikingly 
with  the  education,  character,  and  habits  of  the  several  writers, 
as  far  as  we  know  them.  Matthew  and  Mark  write  in  the  plain, 
simple  style  of  unpolished  men,  whose  object  is  truth,  not  to  var- 
nish a  tale :  John  in  the  simple,  but  smooth,  flowing  style  of  confi- 
dence and  affection.  Luke  exhibits  more  of  educational  culture  ; 
while  Paul  shows  the  fire  and  energy  of  true  genius  and  strong 
powers,  melted  and  inspirited  with  the  grace  of  the  gospel.  James 
is  sententious  and  ornate,  Peter  earnest,  and  Jude  vehement. 

We  have,  therefore,  in  these  books,  precisely  the  peculiarities  of 
language  and  all  the  diversities  of  style,  which  we  should  have 
expected  from  just  such  authors,  living  at  that  period,  and  in 
those  countries.     We  discover  also 

2.  Strong  marks  of  genuineness  in  the  circumstantiality  of  the 
narratives^  and  the  nmltitiide  of  minute  allusions  to  existing  cus- 
to'ms  and  relations,  which  are  found  more  or  less  in  all  the  books. 

I  cannot  here,  without  going  into  detail,  which  the  occasion 
does  not  allow,  do  more  than  indicate  the  nature  of  the  argument. 
I  regret  this  the  more,  because  it  is  only  by  such  details  that  the 
full  strength  of  the  argument  can  be  exhibited. t  Suffice  it,  how- 
ever, to  say,  that  the  writers  show  an  easy  and  familiar  acquaint- 
ance with  the  times,  which  proves  them  to  be,  as  the  authors  of 
these  books  profess  to  have  been,  contemporaneous  with  the 
events.  No  man  after  them  was  sufficiently  acquainted  with 
the  times  to  have  wrought  into  his  fictitious  narrative  such  mul- 
lipUed  and  accurate  allusions  and  statements.  They  freely  give 
dates,  places,  persons,  circumstances ;  and  refer  to  the  social, 
civil,  religious,  pohlical,  geographical,  and  historical  relations  of 
the  times,  with  a  readiness  and  profusion  which  are  possible  only 
to  contemporaneous  authors.  There  is  none  of  that  generality 
and  conflict  with  the  existing  relations  of  the  time,  as  ascertained 
from  other  reliable  sources,  which  so  often  serve  to  detect  and 

*  See  Winer,  Gramraatik  A  neatest.  Sprachidioms,  §§  1,  2,  3,  4. 
f  See  this  well  done,  Hug's  Introduction  to  the  K  T.  (Fosdick's  Translation)  §  §  3, 
4,  5. 


150  THE   AUTHORITY   OF   THE   SACRED   CANON". 

demonstrate  forgeries  of  later  writers.  Abounding  as  the  allusions 
do  on  almost  every  page,  all  our  researches  into  antiquity  serve 
but  to  illustrate  and  confirm  them. 

Now  I  do  not  assert  that  the  internal  testimony  alone  could 
demonstrate  the  genuineness  of  all  the  books.  But  I  do  not  hesi- 
tate to  affirm  that  the  books,  as  a  whole,  contain  as  strong  inter- 
nal marks  of  the  age  to  which  they  belong,  as  the  book  of  any 
other  ancient  author  or  authors  whatever.  We  have  no  con- 
temporary testimony  to  the  history  of  Herodotus,  still  less  to  the 
works  of  Homer.  But  they  have  strong  internal  testimony, 
and  there  is  no  external  testimony  against  them  ;  and  hence 
their  antiquity,  and  the  genuineness  of  the  former  at  least,  are 
now  universally  admitted.  In  the  case  of  the  book  before  us,  the 
testimony  is  stronger  and  still  more  decisive.  The  language  is 
the  Greek,  of  a  particular  age  and  region,  and  all  the  minute  cir- 
cumstantial allusions  are  allusions  to  the  relations  and  customs 
of  times  and  countries,  than  which  none  others  are  better  known 
to  us  in  ancient  history.  What  single  forger  of  the  second  cen- 
tury,— and  later  it  would  be  absurd  to  suppose, — could  have  writ- 
ten so  many  books  in  so  many  different  styles,  so  peculiar  in  their 
matter,  and  abounding  with  so  many  minute  references  to  the 
relations  of  a  former  period?  What  combination  of  men  could 
have  done  it,  and  the  thing  not  be  known  and  duly  noted  in  his- 
tory? How  is  it  that  the  men  of  that  age  allowed  themselves  to 
be  thus  amazingly  imposed  on?  And  if  it  be  allowed  that  they 
were  written  in  the  period  to  which  we  refer  them,  why  attribute 
them  to  other  authors  ?  Who  so  likely  to  write  them  as  the  fol- 
lowers of  Christ?  And  amongst  these,  who  so  properly  with  the 
authority  w^iich  these  writers  claim  for  themselves,  as  those  who 
attended  personally  on  his  instructions  and  ministry,  and  were 
by  him  commissioned  to  go  out  and  instruct  others? 

B.  I  proceed  now  to  lay  before  you  the  external  evidence  of 
the  genuineness  of  these  books.  Here  again  I  have  to  regret 
that  I  cannot  give  you  more  and  fuller  quotations  from  ancient 
writers,  both  Christian  and  infidel,  so  that  you  might  receive  the 
just  impression  of  the  argument.  *  My  time  allows  me  to  do  little 
more  than  present  an  abstract  of  the  more  important  testimony. 

1.  I  begin  with  the  testimony  of  those  who  lived,  wholly  or  in 
part,  in  the  very  age  of  the  Apostles,  and  were  more  or  less  con- 
versant witl^  them,  and,  therefore,  are  commonly  called  Apostoli- 
cal Fathers.     These  are  Bar?iabas,  of  Cyprus,  frequently  men- 


THE   AUTHORIXr   OF   THE   SACKED   CANON.  151 

tioned  in  the  New  Testament  as  a  co-laboier  of  Paul;  Clement^ 
who  is  also  mentioned  as  a  fellow-laborer  of  Paul,  afterwards 
Bishop  of  Rome ;  Hennas^  most  probably  the  same  who  is  saluted 
by  Paul,  in  the  Epistle  to  the  Romans ;  Ignatius,  Bishop  of  An- 
tioch,  in  Syria,  where  he  is  said  to  have  been  ordained  by  Peter ; 
Polycarp,  a  disciple  of  John,  ordained  by  him  Bishop  of  Smyrna, 
where  he  died  a  martyr;  and  Papias,  the  companion  of  Poly- 
carp,  and  possibly  conversant  with  the  Apostle  John. 

Of  these  we  have  only  a  few  writings  and  fragments  preserved. 
The  Shepherd  of  Hermas  nearly  equals  all  the  rest ;  but,  unfor- 
tunately, it  is  of  such  a  character  as  allowed  him  to  quote  the 
New  Testament  but  little.  Yet  in  one  and  another  of  these  we 
find  nearly  all  the  books  in  our  New  Testament  Canon  quoted  or 
alluded  to — although  generally  not  by  name.  The  laborious  and 
cautious  Dr.  Lardner  has  carefully  collected  and  weighed  their 
statements;*  from  him  I  take  these  results: — \n  Barnabas  the 
allusions  are  few,  and  not  so  clear.  Clement,  of  Rome,  expressly 
ascribes  1st  Corinthians  to  Paul,  and  more  or  less  clearly  quotes 
or  alhides  to  Matthew,  Mark,  Luke,  Romans,  2d  Corinthians, 
Galatians,  Ephesians,  Philippians,  Colossians,  1st  Thessalonians, 
1st  and  2d  Timothy,  Titus,  Hebrews,  James,  1st  and  2d  Peter. 
Hennas  alludes  to  Matthew,  Luke,  John,  Acts,  Romans,  1st 
Corinthians,  Ephesians,  James,  and  Revelation.  Ignatius  ex- 
pressly ascribes  Ephesians  to  Paul,  and  makes  plain  allusions  to 
the  Gospels  of  Matthew  and  John,  and  probably  Luke,  to  the 
Acts,  Romans,  1st  and  2d  Corinthians,  Galatians,  Philippians,  1st 
Thessalonians,  2d  Timothy,  1st  Peter,  1st  and  3d  John.  Poly- 
carp  plainly  ascribes  Philippians  to  Paul,  and  quotes  Matthew, 
Luke,  1st  Corinthians,  Ephesians,  Philippians,  1st  and  2d  Thes- 
salonians ;  and  makes  undoubted  references  to  Acts,  Romans,  1st 
and  2d  Corinthians,  Galatians,  Ephesians,  1st  and  2d  Timothy, 
1st  Peter,  1st  John,  and  probably  Hebrews,  doubtful  ones  to  Colos- 
sians and  Jude.  Papias  bears  express  testimony  to  Matthew 
and  Mark,  quotes  1st  Peter,  and  1st  John,  probably  refers  to  Acts, 
and  received  Revelation. 

I  am  well  aware  that  a  more  recent  and  skeptical  criticism  has 
discarded,  or  questioned,  very  many  of  these  supposed  quotations 
and  allusions.  But,  after  making  every  deduction  that  can  rea- 
sonably be  claimed,  it  remains,  that  in  the  brief  writings  and 
fragments  of  these  few  Apostolical  Fathers  which  have  descended 
*  See  his  works  (Lond.  ed.)  vol.  L  p.  283  seq.  iii.  p.  99  seq. 


152  THE   AUTHORITY   OF  THE   SACRED   CANON. 

to  US,  we  fmd  nearly  all  ihe  books  of  our  New  Testament  quoted 
or  alluded  to: — not  indeed,  generally,  so  as  to  determine  the 
authors ;  but  so  as  to  show  that  the  books  were  in  existence,  and 
were  known  and  read  and  apjireciated  by  contemporaneous  wri- 
ters, and  those  to  whom  they  wrote.  Conversant  as  these  writers 
were  with  the  Apostles,  they  could  not  thus  have  received  and 
used  these  books,  unless  they  had  believed  that  they  were  truly 
from  them.  Neither  would  it  seem  that  they  thus  recognized  any 
other  books  that  are  not  in  our  Canon. 

2.  We  descend  a  little  later  into  the  second  centiuy,  and  pass- 
ing by  others  whose  testimony  would  help  us,  w'e  examine  the 
writings  of  Justin  Martyr,  a.d.  140 ;  of  IrencBus,  a.d.  178 ;  of 
Cleme/it  of  Alexandria,  a.d.  194 ;  and  of  TertuUian,  a.d.  200. 
The  first  of  these  was  a  native  of  Palestine,  a  man  of  learning 
and  a  traveller.  The  second  was  a  native  of  Asia,  acquainted 
with  Poly  carp,  and  Bishop  of  Lyons  in  Gaul.  The  third  was  a 
learned  president  of  the  celebrated  catechetical  school  at  Alexan- 
dria, in  Egypt.  The  fourth  was  a  presbyter  of  Carthage,  and  a 
man  of  liberal  learning. 

Like  the  Apostolical  Fathers  who  preceded  them,  none  of  these 
have  given  us  catalogues  of  the  Sacred  Books.  But  they  make 
so  many  statements  respecting  them  and  their  authors,  and  so 
freely  quote  them  and  allude  to  them  as  sacred  and  authoritative 
Scriptures,  that  we  might,  with  goodly  satisfaction,  make  out  the 
Canon  of  the  New  Testament  from  them  alone.  I  am  sorry  that 
I  have  not  time  to  quote  them  at  length :  but  I  am  compelled  to 
content  myself  with  the  statement  of  the  substance  and  the  most 
important  points  of  their  testimony.  Justin  tells  us  that  the 
Memoirs  or  Records  of  the  Apostles  and  their  companions, — 
plainly  meaning  our  four  Gospels,  which  only  he  received, — vi^ere 
read  and  expounded  in  the  assemblies  of  Christians  for  divine 
worship  on  the  Sabbath  day.  Irenseus  says  expressly,  that  there 
were  but  four  Gospels, — the  very  ones  that  we  now  have.  In 
divers  passages  they  both  quote  these,  and  many  other  of  the 
Sacred  Books.  Clement,  likewise  testifies  to  the  four  Gospels  of 
Matthew,  Mark,  Luke,  and  John  :  refers  Acts  to  Luke  ;  thirteen 
Epistles  to  Paul,  omitting  only  Philemon  :  quotes  of  the  Catholic 
Epistles  all  but  James,  2  Peter,  and  3  John  :  and  ascribes  Reve- 
lation to  John,  the  Apostle.  TertuUian,  also,  received  but  the 
four  Gospels,  of  Matthew  and  John  who,  he  says,  were  Apostles, 
and  of  Mark  and  Luke,  who  were  apostolical  men  :  refers  Acts 


THE   AUTHORITY   OF   THE   SACRED   CANON".  153 

to  Luke;  thiiteeii  Epistles' to  Paul,  including  Philemon,  but  as- 
cribing- Hebrews  to  Barnabas :  and  quotes  1  Peter,  1  John,  Jude, 
and  Revelation,  ascribing  the  last  expressly  to  the  Apostle  John. 
'•  Visit,"  says  he  to  those  who  would  exercise  a  commendable 
curios^ity  in  matters  of  their  salvation, — "  visit  the  apostolical 
churches,  in  which  the  very  chairs  of  the  Apostles  still  preside ; 
in  which  their  very  authentic  letters*  are  recited,  sounding  forth 
the  voice  and  representing  the  face  of  each  one.  Is  Achaia  near 
you  ?  you  have  Corinth.  If  you  are  not  far  from  Macedonia, 
you  have  Philippi  and  Thessalonica.  If  you  can  go  to  Asia, 
you  have  Ephesus,  &c."  Putting  together  their  statements,  and 
the  statements  of  others  coeval  with  them,  we  learn  that  the 
books  of  the  New  Testament  were  at  this  period  current  in  two 
volumes,  called  ^/ie  Gospels  and  Aposiles ;  that  there  were  four 
Gospels  universally  received,  two  of  them  from  the  Apostles 
Matthew  and  John,  and  two  from  .Mark  and  Luke,  who  wrote 
respectively  with  the  authority  of  Peter  and  Paul ;  that  the  Acts 
were  written  by  Luke,  and  fourteen  Epistles  by  Paul,  though 
Hebrews  was  doubted  by  some ;  that  of  the  seven  Catholic  Epis- 
tles all  were  known  and  quoted,  excepting  that  we  find  no  men- 
tion of  James  and  3  Jolin  ;  and  that  Revelation  was  received  as 
the  work  of  the  Apostle  John.  I  wish  you  particularly  to  note, 
that  amongst  the  books  thus  early  received  as  genuine,  are  several 
of  those  which  we  shall  presently  see  were  afterwards  doubted. 
Thus  Justin  Martyr  quotes  2  Peter ;  Irenajus  quotes  and  Clement 
received  2  John  ;  Justin,  Ireneeus,  Clement  and  Tertullian,  all 
received  Revelation  as  John's.  There  were  other  books  now  in 
circulation,  some  of  them  written  by  good  men,  others  falsely 
ascribed  to  Apostles :  but  whilst  these  were  read  and  sometimes 
quoted,  it  does  not  appear  that  they  were  ever  received  as  genuine 
works  of  the  Apostles  or  apostolical  men,  without  which  they 
could  not  have  been  deemed  sacred  and  canonical.  I  wish  you 
further  to  note,  that  as  none  of  the  writers  of  this  period  furnish 
catalogues  of  the  Sacred  Books,  but  only  quote  them  or  alkide  to 
them  as  they  had  occasion  to  do  so,  it  is  manifest,  that  the  omis- 
sion'to  quote  them  or  refer  to  them  by  no  means  proves  that  they 
did  not  know  and  receive  them.  The  wonder  rather  is,  that 
within  one  hundred  years  after  the  last  of  the  Apostles,  though 
no  writer,  as  far  as  we  know,  saw  fit  to  prepare  a  formal  cata- 
logue of  the  Sacred  Books, — a  fact  which  argues  a  very  general 
*  IpsjB  authentice  literce. 


154  THE   AUTHORITY   OF  THE  SACRED   CAJSrON. 

consent  in  regard  to  them, — we  yet  have,  in  the  remaining  writ- 
ings of  only  a  few  authors,  the  most  satisfactory  proof  of  the 
reception  of  nearly  every  one  of  them  as  genuine  and  authorita- 
tive. "  In  the  remaining  works  of  Irenaeus,  Clement  of  Alexan- 
dria, and  Tertullian  (though  some  works  of  each  of  them  are 
lost),  there  are  perhaps,"  says  Dr.  Lardner,*  "  more  and  larger 
quotations  of  the  small  volume  of  the  New  Testament,  than  of 
all  the  works  of  Cicero,  though  of  so  uncommon  excellence  for 
thought  and  style,  in  the  writers  of  all  characters  for  several 
ages."  He  elsewheref  uses  nearly  the  same  language  of  the 
quotations  in  Tertullian  alone. 

For  reasons  which  I  have  already  suggested,  it  was  natural 
that  by  this  time  doubts  should  be  felt  and  expressed  in  regard  to 
some  of  these  books.  The  fact,  too,  that  in  some  cases,  books, 
which  were  admitted  to  be  the  works  of  uninspired  men,  were 
read  in  the  churches  as  profitable  books,  while  some,  as  Revela- 
tion, which  were  admitted  to  be  the  genuine  works  of  inspired 
men,  were  not  read  on  account  of  their  obscurity  or  for  other 
reasons,  would  help  to  induce  doubts  where  before  there  had  been 
none,  and  make  it  necessary  for  those  who  had  the  learning  and 
the  opportunity,  to  investigate  the  grounds  on  which  the  various 
books  had  been  received  into  the  churches,  and  the  authority  to 
which  they  were  entitled.  This  was  accordingly  done:  and 
there  have  descended  to  us  some  thirteen  well-authenticated  cata- 
logues of  the  genuine  and  canonical  books,  prepared  by  leading 
men  in  the  two  following  centuries. 

3.  To  the  substance  of  these  ancient  Cataloguesl  I  now  invite 
your  attention. 

Thej^/\<?^  is  that  of  an  anonymous  author,  discovered  by  Mu- 
ratori,  the  famous  Italian  antiquarian,  and  by  him  referred  to 
Caius,  a  Roman  presbyter  about  a.d.  200.  Of  this  we  have  only 
an  obscure  and  barbarous  Latin  translation.  It  contains  all 
the  books  except  Hebrews,  James,  and  probably  2d  Peter  and  3d 
John. 

The  second  is  that  of  Origen,  a  presbyter  of  Alexandria,  who 
flourished  a.d.  230,  little  more  than  one  hundred  years  after  the 

*  Works,  vol.  iii.  pp.  106,  7.     London  Edo.  f  lb.  vol.  i.  p.  435. 

\  For  most  of  these  Catalogue?=,  besides  the  works  of  Gardner,  see  Kirchhofer's 
Quellensammlung  z.  Geschichte  d.  Neutest.  Canons  bis  auf  Hieronynius,  where 
they,  as  well  as  the  other  testimony  adduced  in  this  Lecture,  are  given  in  the 
original. 


THE   AUTHORITY   OF   THE   SACRED   CANON.  155 

Apostle  John.  He  was,  by  general  consent,  the  most  learned  man 
of  his  age;  thoroughly  studied  in  Pagan  and  Christian  philoso- 
phy and  literature  ;  a  most  voluminous  writer,  courted  by  the 
great,  and  honored  and  feared  by  his  enemies.  He  devoted  him- 
self especially  to  the  study  of  the  Sacred  Scriptures ;  and  in  two 
passages  which  Eusebius  has  preserved,*  he  has  particularly  enu- 
merated the  books  which  had  been  handed  down,  and  were  then 
received,  as  genuine  works  of  the  Apostles  and  their  attendants. 
He  mentions  that  some  doubted  the  genuineness  of  2d  Peter,  and 
2d  and  3d  John  ;  thinks  that  Paul  dictated  Hebrews  to  some  un- 
known amanuensis,  who  wrote  down  the  Apostle's  thoughts  in  his 
own  words ;  and  omits  James  and  Jude  altogether.  But  he  refers 
elsewhere  in  his  works  to  these  two  Epistles,  as  well  known  in 
the  churches,  though  not  universally  received  as  genuine  :  and 
he  would  seem  himself  to  have  received  them  all,  as  he  certainly 
did  the  remaining  books  of  our  Canon. 

The  third  catalogue  is  that  of  Eusebius,  Bishop  of  Cajsarea, 
early  in  the  4th  century  (a.d.  315).  He  was  a  diligent  student 
and  a  voluminous  writer,  and  is  especially  famous  for  a  valuable 
Church  History  which  has  descended  to  us,  and  to  which  probably 
we  are  more  indebted  than  to  any  other  uninspired  book  of  an- 
cient times.  He  made  it  a  special  subject  of  inquiry,  what  books 
had  been  received  from  the  limes  of  the  Apostles  as  written  by 
them  or  with  their  sanction,  and  frequently  refers  to  it  in  his 
History.  For  greater  distinctness  he  divides  the  books,  which 
were  in  circulation,  and  more  or  less  read  by  Christians  and 
churches,  into  three  classes  : — 1.  Those  which  were  universally 
received  as  genuine  [ufioloyovfiiva).  2.  Those  of  which  some 
doubted,  though  ihe  greater  part  admitted  them  (afTtieyo^eVa). 
3.  Those  which  were  spurious,  i.  e.  certainly  not  from  the  Apostles 
(jo^«).  Of  these  last,  some  were  good  books,  others  absurd  and 
impious.  In  the  first  class  he  enumerates  all  the  books  of  our 
Canon,  excepting  James,  2d  Peter,  2d  and  3d  John,  Jude,  and 
Revelation, — all  which  he  puts  in  the  second  class,  excepting  Rev- 
elation, which  he  first  places  in  the  first  class,  and  aft'^rwards 
states  that  some  rejected  it.f 

^he  fourth  catalogue  is  that  of  Athanasius,  Bishop  of  Alexan- 
dria, who  flourished  about  the  same  time  with  Eusebius.  He  is 
distinguished  in  ecclesiastical  history  for  the  part  which  he  took 
in  the  great  Arian  controversy.  In  a  fragment  of  what  is  called 
*  Ecc.  Hist.  vi.  25.  f  Ecc.  Hist.  iii.  25.  comp.  iii.  3. 


156  THE  AUTHORITY   OF  THE  SACRED   CANON. 

his  Festal  or  Paschal  Epistle,  which  the  great  majority  of  the 
learned  world  admit  to  be  genuine,  he  gives  a  catalogue  of  the 
books  which  had  been  handed  down  and  believed  to  be  inspired, 
for  the  especial  and  expressed  purpose  of  guarding  his  readers 
from  being  imposed  upon  by  spurious  writings.  His  catalogue 
coincides,  as  to  the  books  and  authors,  entirely  with  our  own, 

The  fifth  catalogue  is  that  of  Cyril,  Bishop  of  Jerusalem  about 
the  middle  of  the  4th  century  (a.d.  340)  ;  and  the  sixth  is  that 
of  the  Council  of  Laodicea,  where  some  thirty  or  forty  bishops  of 
Lydia  assembled,  likewise  in  the  fourth  century,  though  the  exact 
year  cannot  be  determined.*  These  catalogues  agree  with  our 
own,  except  that  they  omit  Revelation. 

The  seventh  is  that  of  Epiphanius,  Bishop  of  Cyprus  (a.d.  368), 
who,  Jerome  says,  was  a  man  of  five  languages.  His  catalogue 
is  the  same  as  ours. 

The  eighth  is  that  of  Gregory  Nazianzen,  Bishop  of  Constantino- 
ple, in  the  latter  half  of  the  4th  century  ;  and  the  ninth  that  of 
Philastrius,  Bishop  of  Brescia,  in  Italy,  about  the  same  time. 
Gregory  mentions  Revelation  as  doubted  ;  Philastrius  omits  it,  and 
mentions  only  thirteen  Epistles  of  Paul,  omitting  most  probably 
that  to  the  Hebrews,  which  had  been  questioned  in  the  Western 
Church. 

The  teyitlt  catalogue  is  that  of  Jerome,  who  flourished  in  the 
latter  part  of  the  4th  century,  and  was  the  most  learned  of 
the  Latin  Fathers.  His  life  was  especially  devoted  to  literary 
labors  on  the  Sacred  Scriptures.  Many  of  his  works  have  de- 
scended to  us.  Amongst  these,  the  most  noted  is  the  Roman  Vul- 
gate, or  Latin  translation  of  the  Bible  in  common  use  in  the 
Roman  Catholic  Church.  No  man  in  the  ancient  Church  was 
better  qualified  to  say  what  books  had  been  received  from  the 
hands  and  times  of  the  apostles.  His  catalogue  agrees  exactly 
with  our  present  Canon.  He  mentions,  indeed,  that  some  disputed 
the  authority  of  Hebrews,  as  others  did  that  of  Revelation  ;  but 
says  that  he  himself,  after  the  custom  of  the  ancient  writers,  re- 
ceived both.  He  also  composed  a  catalogue  of  illustrious  ecclesi- 
astical writers  who  had  preceded  him,  in  which  he  gives  short 
notices  of  the  several  writers  of  the  New  Testament,  and  ascribes 
to  them  the  several  books,  as  they  are  now  ascribed  in  our 
Canon. 

The  eleventh  catalogue  is   that   of  Rufiinus,  a   presbyter  of 

*  About  A.D.  364. 


THE   AUTHORITY   OF  THE   SACRED   CANON.  157 

Aquileia,  in  Italy,  and  contemporary  with  Jerome.  Like  most  of 
the  others,  it  jsrofesses  to  contain  the  books  which  had  been  hand- 
ed down  as  coming  from  the  Apostles,  and  agrees  exactly  with  our 
Canon,  i 

The  twelfth  catalogue  is  that  of  Augustine,  the  celebrated 
Bishop  of  Hippo,  in  Africa,  and  contemporary  with  Jerome  and 
Ruffinus.  Inferior  amongst  the  Latins  only  to  Jerome  in  learn- 
ing, he  was,  in  the  judgment  of  Lardner,  not  inferior  to  him  in 
good  sense,     Flis  catalogue  agrees  in  all  respects  with  our  own. 

The  thirteenth  is  that  of  the  third  (alias  the  sixth)  Council  of 
Carthage,  which  met  about  a.d.  397,  and  was  composed  of  forty- 
four  African  bishops,  amongst  whom  was  Augustine.  The  47th 
Canon  contains  a  list  of  the  books  of  the  New  Testament,  which 
accords  entirely  with  ours. 

To  these  I  might  add  the  catalogue  of  the  unknown  author  of 
the  works  ascribed  to  Dionysius  the  Areopagite ;  as  also  that  con- 
tained in  the  Synopsis,  falsely  ascribed  to  Athanasius ;  and  that 
in  the  so  called,  but  misnamed,  Apostolical  Constitutions.  These 
all,  while  their  real  authors  and  dates  are  uncertain,  are  ancient 
catalogues,  though  most  probably  subsequent  to  those  that  have 
been  mentioned: — they  all  agree  exactly  with  our  Canon. 

Such  are  the  Catalogues  which  were  prepared  by  learned  and 
distinguished  men,  who  flourished  from  one  hundred  to  three  hun- 
dred years  after  the  last  of  the  Apostles.  They  lived  in  different 
countries,  at  different  times,  and  occupied  high  places  in  the 
Church.  They  were,  therefore,  fully  competent  to  declare  what 
books  had  been  received  before  them,  and  were  received  in  their 
own  times,  as  genuine  works  of  the  Apostles.  Most  of  them,  let 
it  be  observed,  profess  to  give  the  books  which  had  been  received 
from  the  beginning:  and  thus  we  have  the  testimony  of  the  most 
distinguished  writers  of  old,  who  were  deeply  interested  and  in- 
dustriously careful  to  separate  the  genuine  books  from  the  spu- 
rious, and  who  withal  had  the  best  means  of  doing  so — conclusively 
showing  that  the  books  which  were  received  in  the  ages  nearest  to 
the  Apostles  as  genuine,  were  the  very  same  which  we  now  receive 
into  our  Canon.  They  tell  us,  indeed,  that  a  few  of  the  books  were 
doubted  by  some : — that  James,  2d  Peter,  2d  and  3d  John,  Jude, 
and  Revelation  were  not  admitted  by  all;  and  that  some  doubled 
whether  Paul  v/as  the  author  of  Hebrews: — but  let  it  be  noted, 
that  the  leading  of  these  witnesses  carefully  state  that  the  great 
majority  received  them,  as  they  themselves  did  after  those  who 


158  THE  AUTHORITY   OF  THE   SACRED   CANON. 

had  preceded  them  ; — and  as,  I  will  add,  the  great  majority  of  the 
learned  have  done  down  to  the  present  day.  The  doubts  which 
some  entertained  in  relation  to  some  of  the  books,  show  conclusive- 
ly, that  they  were  not  received  without  examination.  The  great 
question,  as  appears  from  the  statements  of  many  of  the  writers, 
as  well  as  from  the  actual  results,  was,  what  books  were  written 
by  the  Apostles,  and  with  their  sanction,  for  the  guidance  of  the 
Church  1  And  though  some  doubted  in  regard  to  some  of  the 
books,  the  great  majority  were  agreed  on  the  whole  Canon  as  we 
now  have  it ;  and  in  this  judgment  the  most  learned  and  leading 
men  of  the  times  who  investigated  the  subject  and  have  given  us 
the  results  of  their  inquiries,  themselves  concurred.  Of  the  thir- 
teen well-authenticated  catalogues  which  they  have  furnished  us, 
— to  say  nothing  of  the  others,— seven  agree  exactly  with  our 
Canon  ;  three  omit  only  Revelation  ;*  whilst  of  the  remaining 
three,  the  authors  of  two  are  known  to  have  received  the  books 
which  they  omit  or  note  as  doubted.  Nor  do  these  catalogues, 
let  it  be  further  noticed,  contain  any  books  that  are  not  in  our 
present  Canon.  We  have,  as  far  as  their  evidence  goes,  all  the 
books  that  were  ever  received  as  genuine  by  those  who  lived 
nearest  to  the  times  of  the  Apostles.  If,  in  any  case,  a  writer  of 
any  note  quotes  other  books  as  sacred  or  divine, — Origen  says,  in 
one  place,  of  the  Shepherd  of  Hermas,  "  I  think  it  is  divinely  in- 
spired,"t — it  is  generally  sufficiently  manifest  from  other  passages 
of  the  same  author,  that  he  did  not  regard  them  as  on  an  equality 
with  the  books  of  the  Sacred  Canon,  and  abundantly  so  from  other 
writers,  if  not  himself,  that  the  general  voice  was  against  them. 
They  were  good  to  be  read  as  the  products  of  minds  enlightened 
and  sanctified  by  the  Spirit  of  God,  but  not  binding,  like  the  books 
of  the  Sacred  Canon,  in  matters  of  faith  and  practice. 

4.  In  further  proof  of  the  genuineness  of  our  New  Testament 
Canon,  I  appeal  to  the  testimony  of  several  ancient  versions. 

Among  these  I  notice,  first,  the  Old  Syrian,  commonly  called 
the  Peshito  Version.  This  translation  of  the  books  of  both  the 
Old  and  New  Testaments,  was  made  for  the  Syrian  churches, 
according  to  some  in  the  third  century,  but  according  to  the  great 
majority  of  critics  early  in  the  second,  and  some  distinguished 

"Which,  however,  besides  the  authors  of  the  Seven,  Justin  Martyr,  IrenaBus, 
Clemens  Alexandrinus,  and  Tertullian,  all  received,  as  did  the  majority  then  and 
before  them. 

•f-  Divinitus  inspirata. 


THE  AUTUORITY   OF   THE   SACRED   CANON.  159 

authors  have  c;  en  regarded  it  as  a  product  of  the  first.  It  is  gen- 
erally admitted  to  be  a  remarkably  accurate  version.  It  contains 
all  the  books  of  our  present  Canon,  excepting  2d  Peter,  2d  and 
3d  John,  Jude,  and  Revelation.  A  distinguished  critic*  contends, 
with  some  plausibility,  that  originally  it  may  have  contained  all 
these,  especially  the  last.  However  this  may  be,  we  are  struck 
with  the  fact,  that  thus  early  after  the  age  of  the  Apostles, — pos- 
sibly within  half  a  century, — notwithstanding  the  slow  process 
of  transcription,  we  have  in  circulation  in  the  churches  of  Syria, 
a  translation  of  so  complete  a  collection  of  the  sacred  writings. 
Composed,  as  the  books  originally  were,  in  different  countries,  by 
different  persons,  at  different  times,  and  addressed  for  the  most 
part  to  different  churches,  and  even  private  individuals,  the  won- 
der is,  that  so  complete  a  collection  was  so  soon  made  by  the  trans- 
lator or  translators  of  this  version,  and  not  that  a  few  of  the  books 
should  be  wanting  in  it.  We  see  proof  here,  as  elsewhere  in  the 
early  writers,  and  as  we  should  have  expected  from  the  nature  of 
the  writings  and  from  the  claims  of  their  authors,  that  the  ascer- 
taining of  the  genuine  works  of  the  Apostles  and  the  obtaining 
of  correct  copies  of  them,  was  a  matter  of  earnest  and  diligent 
solicitude  with  the  early  Christians  and  churches-  And  we  ob- 
serve here,  as  in  the  later  writers  and  catalogues  which  I  have 
adduced,  that  the  books  of  which  we  might  have  expected  that 
there  would  be  less  demand,  or  some  delay  in  the  circulation,  and 
finally  some  hesitancy  in  the  reception,  are  the  very  books  which 
appear  to  have  failed,  when  this  early  and  excellent  translation 
was  made,  to  obtain  general  circulation  and  reception  in  Syria. 

The  second  version  which  I  mention  is  an  old  Latin  version, 
commonl}''  called  the  Itala.  De  Wette,t  a  skeptical  German 
critic,  says,  its  origin  belongs  to  the  ealiest  times  of  Christianity. 
Eichhorn  I  thinks  that  it  was  made  before  the  middle  of  the  sec- 
ond century.  Augustine  refers  to  it  as  the  best  of  many  Latin 
translations,  of  which  both  he  and  Jerome  speak  as  circulating 
in  the  African  and  Western  churches,  at  a  very  early  period.  Its 
text  became  much  corrupted  by  transcription,  and'Jerome  under- 
took to  revise  and  correct  it.  Augustine  complains  equally  with 
him  of  the  corrupt  state  of  its  text,  and  urged  upon  him  to  make 
the  revision  :  but  we  nowhere  find  in  Jerome  or  Augustine,  both 
of  whom  we  have  seen  held  to  the  Canon  just  as  we  have  it,  the 

*  Hug  Introd.  N.  T.  §  65.  f  De  Wette  on  the  O.  T.  (Parker)  §  48. 

I  Einleitung  in  d.  A.  T.  ii.  §  822. 


160  THE   AUTHORITY   OF   THE   SACRED   CANON, 

slightest  intimation  that  this  ancient  version  was  deficient  in  any 
of  the  books.  Jerome  himself  subsecjuently,  at  the  urgency  of 
his  friends,  prepared  a  Latin  translation  of  the  entire  Scriptures. 
The  circulation  of  this  was  much  opposed  by  Ruffinus  and  others, 
and  even  feared  by  Augustine  :  so  that  Jerome  had  to  defend  both 
himself  and  his  version  from  the  charges  of  his  opponents.  Yet 
we  find  no  allusion  to  any  such  objection  to  the  old  Latin  versions 
as  being  defective  in  the  Canon,  and  to  the  completeness  of  his 
own  as  enhancing  its  relative  value.  We  conclude,  therefore, 
that  the  old  Latin  versions  which  were  in  circulation  in  the  very 
first  ages  of  Christianity,  embraced  all  the  books  which  were  in 
the  Canon  of  Jerome  and  Augustine,  which  we  have  seen  was 
the  same  as  ours. 

To  say  nothing  of  other  versions. — as  the  Coptic,  the  Sahidic, 
the  Ethiopic,  the  Gothic,  and  the  Armenian,  I  mention  lastly  the 
Latin  version  of  Jerome  himself,  which  soon  obtained  general 
circulation  in  the  West,  and,  under  the  name  of  the  Vulgate, 
which  he  had  applied  to  the  Itala,  received  finally  the  authorita- 
tive sanction  of  the  Romish  Church.  Of  this  it  must  suffice  to 
say,  that  it  contains  all  the  books  of  our  New  Testament  Canon, 
and  none  others.  And  in  dismissing  thus  briefly  (he  testimony 
of  the  versions,  I  remark  that  the  extent  of  their  circulation  shows 
how  general  was  the  admission,  in  the  ages  nearest  to  the  times 
of  the  Apostles,  that  the  books  which  they  contained  were  the 
genuine  works  of  the  Apostles  and  their  attendants. 

5.  But  I  Imve  not  yet  done  with  the  evidence  for  the  genuine- 
ness of  our  New  Testament  Canon.  We  derive  an  important 
argument  in  its  favor  from  the  early  heretics  and  the  very  ene- 
mies of  Cliristianity.  The  Gnostic  heretics,  who  troubled  the 
Church  in  the  very  first  periods,  never  questioned  the  genuine- 
ness of  the  books.  They  even  admitted  some  to  be  genuine,  the 
inspiration  of  which  on  account  of  their  philosophical  views  they 
denied.  The  early  infidels  too,^ — Lucian  (a.d.  170),  Celsus  (a.d. 
176),  Porphyry  (a.d.  270),  and  Julian  (a.d.  361), — all  of  them 
acute  and  educated  men,  never  called  in  question  the  genuineness 
of  the  sacred  books  of  the  Christians.  The  charges  which  they 
bring  against  the  Christians  are  derived  from  those  books  only : 
the  facts  and  doctrines  which  they  allege  to  be  received  by  tliem 
are  contained  in  the  books  of  our  present  Canon  : — thus  clearly 
proving  the  identity  of  the  ancient  Canon  and  our  own.  We 
might  indeed  make  out  from   their  writings   the  great  leading 


THE  AUTHORITY  OF  THE  SACRED  CANON.        161 

facts,  and  not  a  few  of  the  doctrines  of  the  New  Testament :  but 
whilst  they  endeavor  to  explain  or  to  confute  them,  they  never 
question  the  genuineness  of  the  books  in  which  they  are  related. 
Had  the  early  Christians  received  other  books,  such  as  have  come 
down  to  us,  these  had  furnished  far  better  grounds  of  attack,  and 
had  certainly  not  been  overlooked  by  such  acute  and  vigilant  adver- 
saries. The  fact  that  they  did  not  thus  make  them  the  source  of 
charges  against  the  Christians,  proves  that  they  were  never 
received  by  them  as  authoritatively  expounding  their  religion. 

Thus,  my  hearers,  I  think  I  have  established  my  first  proposi- 
tion, that  the  books  of  the  New  Testament  are  genuine.  For 
the  great  majority  of  them,  the  testimony,  as  we  have  seen,  for 
the  first  four  centuries  after  the  age  in  which  their  authors  lived,  is 
uniform,  and  clear,  and  unquestionable.  Amongst  these,  let  it  be 
remembered,  that  the  four  Gospels  stand  pre-eminent :  the  best 
and  most  learned  of  the  early  Fathers  testify  again  and  again 
that  these  four,  and  only  these,  were  to  be  received  as  genuine. 
Respecting  a  few  of  the  books  some  doubted :  but  the  great  ma- 
jority, and  amongst  them  those  who  examined  most  carefully  and 
were  best  qualified  to  judge,  received  them  as  genuine.  Other 
books  indeed  were  sometimes  read,  and  quoted,  and  highly  valued 
by  the  early  Christians  : — in  what  period  of  the  Church  has  this 
not  been  the  case? — But  they  were  never  referred  to  by  the  con- 
temporaries and  immediate  successors  of  the  Apostles  ;  they  were 
not  read  in  the  churches ;  they  were  not  admitted  into  the  sacred 
volume ;  they  do  not  appear  in  the  catalogues ;  they  were  not 
noticed  by  the  enemies  of  Christianity :  they  were  not  alleged  by 
different  parties  as  of  authority  in  their  controversies  ;  they  were 
not  the  subjects  of  comments,  versions,  harmonies,  and  homilies  :* 
all  which  we  have  seen  was  more  or  less  the  case  with  the  books 
of  our  Canon, — from  which,  therefore,  these  are  and  were  properly 
excluded  as  of  later  origin. 

These  facts  conclusively  show  that  the  books  of  our  Canon  were 
not  received  without  investigation,  and  were  only  received  upon 
satisfactory  evidence  of  their  genuineness.  The  disputed  books 
were  those  of  which,  for  the  most  part,  we  might  have  anticipated 
that  doubts  would  arise, — upon  grounds,  however,  of  which  we 
ourselves  can  judge,  and  which  the  great  body  of  Christian  writers 
in  every  age  have  deemed  insufficient.  After  the  middle  of  the 
4th  century  the  genuineness  of  the  books,  which  some  had  previ- 
*  Paley's  Evidences,  c.  ix.  §  xi. 
11 


162  THE   AUTHOKITY   OF   THE   SACRED   CANON. 

ously  questioned,  was  universally  conceded ;  and  succeeding  ages 
down  to  the  present  day  have,  with  very  partial  exceptions,  ac- 
knowledged them  all, — and  none  others.  A  spirit  of  skepticism 
has,  indeed,  for  more  than  half  a  century  past,  pervaded  some  of 
the  churches  on  the  Continent  of  Europe,  and  especially  of  Ger- 
many. The  evidences  of  the  genuineness  of  the  Sacred  Canon 
have  been  sifted  anew.  But  whatever  may  be  the  conclusions  of 
some  minds  more  skeptical  than  conservative  or  sound,  the  only 
and  certain  result  of  this  ordeal  will,  we  believe,  on  most  minds 
be  to  confirm  the  conclusions  of  the  pious  and  learned  in  the  4th 
century,  that  whilst  the  evidence  for  the  genuineness  of  the  books 
is  not  in  all  cases  equally  strong,  yet  in  no  case  is  that  evidence 
against,  but  decidedly  in  favor  of  each  particular  book,  and  there- 
fore that  all  ought  to  be  received. 

I  have  said  that  the  evidence  of  the  genuineness  of  these  books, 
is  of  the  same  kind  as  that  on  which  we  rely  to  prove  the  genu- 
ineness of  all  ancient  books.  In  degree  this  evidence  far  exceeds 
that  for  the  works  of  any  classic  author  of  antiquity.  Even  the 
Orations  of  Cicero  or  Demosthenes,  the  histories  of  Caesar  or  Thu- 
cydides,  the  Satires  of  Horace  or  the  Tragedies  of  Sophocles,  are 
not  sustained  by  equal  testimony,  external  and  internal.  The 
truth  is,  that  the  spread  of  Christianity  was  unparalleled  for 
rapidity:  the  demand  for  the  books,  which  were  regarded  as 
expounding  the  will  of  its  great  Founder,  was  immediate  aud  ur- 
gent: they  were  copied,  studied,  quoted,  translated,  commented  on, 
and  harmonies  and  homilies  composed  on  them,  in  an  unprece- 
dented manner:  and  the  consequence  is  an  accumulation  of 
evidence  for  their  genuineness,  equalled  by  that  of  no  other  an- 
cient books  whatever.  We  must,  therefore,  admit  the  genuine- 
ness of  these,  or  assume  the  impossibility  of  proving  the  genuine- 
ness of  any. 

II.  My  second  proposition  is,  that  the  history  contained  in  the 
New  Testament  is  true  history. 

Here  again  I  rely  upon  the  ordinary  proofs  of  the  truth  of  any 
history  whatsoever.  My  assertion  is  that,  tried  by  every  proper 
test,  the  history  contained  in  the  New  Testament  is  true  history, 
or  there  is  none  true. 

1.  In  the  first  place,  the  matters  related  were  public. 

They  took  place  on  the  highways  and  in  the  cities  and  vil- 
lages ;  on  the  thronged  mountain-side,  and  the  crowded  plain, 
and  the   frequented  sea-shore  ;  in   the    synagogues   and  on  the 


THE   AUTHORITY   OF   THE   SACRED   CANON.  163 

streets ;  in  private  houses,  and  public  halls,  and  temple  courts  ; 
and  in  the  presence  of  enemies,  as  well  as  of  friends.  Names, 
dates,  places,  and  attendant  circumstances  are  freely  given. 
Almost  everything,  related  as  said  and  done,  occurred  in  the  pres- 
ence of  several,  generally  of  many  witnesses. 

2.  In  the  second  place,  the  loitnesses  ivere  competent. 

They  were  eye-witnesses  of  what  they  relate,  or  they  got  their 
knowledge  from  those  who  were.  Two  of  the  Gospels,  as  we 
have  seen,  were  written  by  Apostles  who  were  personal  attend- 
ants on  our  Saviour's  ministry  of  which  they  give  an  account ; 
the  other  two  and  the  Acts,  by  attendants  on  the  ministry  of  the 
Apostles,  from  whom  they  could  learn  accurately  all  the  facts, 
and  under  whose  direction  ancient  writers  constantly  affirm  that 
they  wrote.  Mark  was  most  probably  a  native  of  Jerusalem, 
himself  possibly  personally  conversant,  or  at  least  acquainted 
with  those  who  were  personally  conversant  with  much  of  our 
Saviour's  history,  and  certainly  an  attendant  on  the  Apostles 
Paul  and  Peter.  Luke  was,  according  to  the  ancient  testimony, 
a  native  of  Antioch  and  a  physician,  and  a  companion  of  the 
Apostle  Paul.  They  were  all  men  of  sound  understanding. 
Their  narratives  alone  prove  this.  They  do  not  appear  credu- 
lous, but  slow  to  believe.  We  discover  no  heated  enthusiasm  or 
raving  fanaticism,  but  the  plain  and  sober  narrative  of  what  the 
witnesses  saw  and  heard  for  themselves,  or  learned  from  those 
who  did  see  and  hear,  and  were  qualified  to  tell.  Men,  who  could 
write  such  narratives,  would  be  admitted  as  competent  witnesses 
of  such  facts  before  any  unprejudiced  tribunal  in  the  country. 
They  were  incompetent  indeed  to  forge  such  narratives,  had 
Jesus  Christ  never  actually  lived,  and  taught,  and  acted,  and 
died,  and  rose  again  :  but  knowing  these  matters  as  facts,  they 
were  abundantly  competent  to  testify  to  them. 

3.  In  the  next  place,  they  icere  men  of  integrity. 

This  appears,  first,  from  their  sacrifices  and  sufferings  in  the 
cause  to  which  they  bear  testimony.  They  all  gave  up  their 
secular  caUings,  and  followed  Christ,  who  was  hated  by  the  Jews 
and  despised  by  the  Greeks,  and  whose  service  promised  little 
worldly  emolument,  but  much  tribulation  and  persecution.  They 
devoted  their  lives,  with  much  hazard  and  toil,  to  publishing  this 
testimony ;  and  some  of  them  probably  died  on  account  of  it. 

Their  integrity  further  appeeflrs  from  the  minute  details  and 
manifold   circumstantial    allusions,   with   which   their    histories 


164  THE   AUTHOEITY   OF   THE   SACEED   CANON". 

abound.  It  is  unnecessary  for  me,  even  if  I  had  the  time,  to  ex- 
hibit a  view  of  these  details  and  allusions.  You  know  that  they 
mention  dates,  places,  persons,  and  attendant  circumstances,  with 
the  utmost  freedom,  and  that  they  make  innumerable  allusions 
and  statements  respecting  the  existing  relations  of  every  kind  of 
the  age  in  which  they  lived.  Such  is  not  the  manner  of  de- 
ceivers generally.  They  carefully  avoid  such  minute  details,  and 
such  manifold  allusions  and  statements  respecting  the  times  of 
which  they  write,  because  they  know  that  these  furnish  the  readiest 
means  of  detecting  and  exposing  them.  The  writers  before  us 
show  manifestly  that  they  meant  no  deception,  and  felt  no  fear 
of  exposure.  The  attempt  has  often  been  made  to  find  them  in 
contradiction  with  the  times,  but  never  successfully.  On  the 
contrary,  the  more  accurate  and  minute  our  knowledge  of  those 
times,  the  more  have  all  seeming  difficulties'  of  this  character 
vanished. 

Their  integrity  further  appears  from  the  remarkable  agreement 
in  their  testimony,  whilst  yet  there  is  abundant  evidence  of  no 
collusion  amongst  them.  The  first  three  of  the  witnesses,  who 
wrote  earliest,  are  remarkably  parallel  in  the  accounts  which 
they  give  of  the  life  of  Christ.  The  fourth,  who  wrote  later,  re- 
lates many  things  not  contained  in  the  others,  as  he  also  omits 
jnuch  which  they  related.  The  agreement  is  the  more  striking 
when  we  consider,  how  much  Christ  did  in  his  brief  but  active 
life,*  and  how  nearly  the  writers  relate  the  same  things  in  the 
same  words.  Some  have  hence  supposed  that  there  was  mani- 
fest collusion  amongst  them  to  impose  upon  the  world.  But  it  is 
enough  to  answer,  without  referring  to  the  different  countries  in 
which  the  ancients  tell  us  that  they  wrote,  that  the  variations 
are  so  numerous  and  the  apparent  discrepancies  so  great,  that 
quite  as  many  have  been  led  to  reject  their  testimony  as  palpably 
contradictory.  The  variations,  however  they  may  be  harmon- 
ized, certainly  do  show  that  there  was  no  collusion  amongst 
the  writers :  the  agreement,  however  it  may  be  explained,  proves 
the  integrity  of  the  testimony.  The  authors  clearly  wrote  re- 
gardless 'of  conformity  or  nonconformity  to  the  statements  of 
others.  Any  three  intelligent  witnesses,  thus  concurring  in  their 
testimony,  and  yet  so  varying  as  to  preclude  just  suspicion  of 
collusion,  would  be  admitted  before  any  fair  tribunal  in  the 
country.  Any  three  historians,*  thus  diflfering,  would  never  be 
Comp.  Joha  xx.  30,  31  and  xxi.  25. 


THE   AUTHORITY   OF   THE   SACRED   CANON.  165 

suspected  of  collusion  ;  thus  agreeing-,  would  never  be  rejected  as 
false.  Their  agreement  must  be  accounted  for  on  other  grounds 
than  the  supposition  of  collusion  :  their  differences  must  be  solved 
by  other  assumptions  than  the  falsity  of  the  witnesses.  Were  I 
to  give  my  own  opinion  in  a  case  where  many  have  theorized 
without  facts  to  sustain  tliem,  I  should  say,  that  the  variations 
occur  precisely  because  the  witnesses  were  independent,  and  it 
was  so  ordered  in  the  providence  of  God  that  they  might  appear 
to  be  so ;  and  that  the  remarkable  agreement  in  the  selection  of 
facts  and  discourses  to  be  related,  and  often  in  the  very  words,  is 
to  be  fully  and  satisfactorily  accounted  for  only  b}^  ascribing  it  to 
that  one  and  the  same  Spirit  of  God,  which  (as  I  shall  presently 
endeavor  briefly  to  prove)  dwelt  in  and  directed  each  one,  so  that 
at  the  mouth  of  two  or  three  duly  concurring  witnesses,  every 
word  might  be  established. 

4.  Lastly,  the  accounts  were  published  in  the  same  age  in 
which  the  facts  occurred. 

We  have  already  seen  that  the  writers  were  contemporaneous 
with  the  facts  which  they  relate.  Their  narratives,  therefore, 
must  have  been  published  by  them  while  many  of  their  own  gen- 
eration, and  many  who  were  cognizant  of,  if  not  actors  in,  the 
scenes  mentioned,  were  yet  ahve.  According  to  the  ancient  tra- 
dition these  narratives  were  published,  one  in  Palestine,  another 
in  Rome,  another  in  Greece,  another  in  Ephesus,  and  the  fifth 
possibly  at  Rome  also.  From  these  places, — or  wherever  else  they 
were  published, — it  is  certain  that  they  rapidly  and  early  spread 
over  the  whole  Roman  empire.  And  yet  we  hear  not  one  word 
of  contradiction  of  their  truth  from  any  quarter  w^hatever. 

The  remarks  which  I  have  made  apply,  in  the  main,  not  only 
to  the  iiistories  contained  in  the  Gospels  and  Acts,  but  also  to  the 
historical  notices  and  statements  which  are  contained  in  most  of 
the  other  books  of  the  New  Testament.  I  repeal,  therefore,  that 
the  history  in  the  New  Testament  is  true  history,  or  there  is  none 
true.  The  facts  related  were  public  ;  the  narrators  were  compe- 
tent, and  men  of  integrity  ;  and  the  accounts  were  published  soon 
after  the  matters  related  took  place  :  they  are  contradicted  by  no 
contemporaneous  testimony,  but  rather  confirmed ;  and  furnish 
the  only  solution  to  the  great  fact  of  Christianity,  which,  all  his- 
tory shows,  originated  in  that  age,  and  has  continued  ever  since. 
No  history  can  afford  better  proofs  of  its  truth.  By  whatever 
process  we  set  aside  this  as  untrue  history,  we  may  set  aside  all 


166  THE  AUTHORITY   OF  THE   SACRED   CAKON. 

history  as  untrue ;  and  give  to  skepticism  universal  sway.  We 
shall  be  allowed  to  believe  that  only  which  we  have  seen  with  our 
own  eyes ;  and  we  can  ssiarcely  credit  them,  because  by  this  skep- 
tical criticism  all  others  become  unworthy  of  credit,  and  our  own 
can  scarcely  be  exceptions  to  so  general  a  law. 

Thus,  my  hearers,  have  I  endeavored  to  maintain  the  genuine- 
ness of  our  New  Testament  Canon,  and  the  credibility  of  the 
New  Testament  history.  I  have  about  as  much  to  say  on  the 
propositions  which  yet  remain.  But  I  fear  that  I  have  already 
trespassed  on  your  patience,  and  respectfully  request  of  you  an- 
other hearing. 


11. 

Respected  Auditors — 

I  THINK  I  have  shown  that  the  New  Testament  Canon  is  gen 
nine,  and  that  the  New  Testament  history  is  true. 

III.  My  third  proposition  is,  that  Christ  was  divine,  and  his 
Apostles  inspired,  and  consequently  our  New  Testament  was 
from  God. 

The  proof  of  this  proposition,  like  that  of  the  preceding,  in- 
volves much  that  must  enter  largely  into  other  lectures  of  this 
course  :  and  as  I  introduce  it  only  to  give  completeness  to  my  own 
argument,  I  shall  despatch  it,  as  I  have  done  the  other,  with  little 
more  than  a  brief  outline. 

Christ  claimed  to  be  sent  from  God,  and  to  be  the  Son  of  God : 
to  do  the  works  of  God,  and  to  have  all  power  committed  into  his 
hands:  to  be  one  with  the  Father;  to  be  entitled  to  the  same 
honor  as  the  Father  ;  to  so  represent  Him  before  men,  that  they 
who  saw  him  saw  the  Father ;  and  that  as  he  came  from  the 
Father,  so  he  would  return  to  the  Father,  to  enjoy  with  Him  the 
glory  which  he  had  before  the  world  began,  and  come  again  to 
judge  the  world  at  the  last  day.  When  he  was  about  to  leave 
the  world,  he  still  promised  to  be  with  his  Apostles  an  all-sufficient 
help :  to  give  them  his  Spirit  which  should  guide  them  into  all 
truth ;  should  receive  of  the  things  of  Christ  and  show  them  to 
them ;  and  should  teach  them  all  things,  and  bring  all  things  to 


THE  AUTHORITY   OF  THE   SACRED   CANON.  167 

their  remembrance,  whatsoever  he  had  commanded  them  :  and 
finally,  to  enable  them  to  do  mighty  works.  Thus  qualified,  he 
commissioned  them  to  go  forth  and  proclaim  him  as  the  Saviour 
to  the  ends  of  the  earth,  beginning  at  Jerusalem. 

The  Apostles  accordingly  went  forth,  and  boldly  and  clearly 
taught  that  Christ  was  indeed  the  Son  of  God,  God  manifest  in 
the  flesh,  the  Redeemer  of  the  world :  that  though  he  had  been 
crucified,  he  was  now  exalted  to  be  Head  over  all  things  to 
the  Church  :  that  he  was  the  Creator,  the  Upholder,  the  Lord  of 
all :  and  that  he  would  come  again  to  judge  the  world.  They 
claimed  for  themselves  to  be  commissioned  by  him  to  teach  in 
his  name  and  to  order  his  kingdom  ;  and  accordingly  constantly 
spoke  and  wrote  and  acted  as  by  authority  from  God. 

So  much  appears  plainly  from  the  history  contained  in  the  New 
Testament.  Christ  claimed  to  be  divine,  and  promised  to  inspire 
his  Apostles  :  the  Apostles  taught  that  Christ  was  divine,  and 
claimed  themselves  to  be  inspired.  And  how  were  these  claims 
supported  ? — According  to  these  histories, 

First,  by  miracles,  such  as  no  man  ever  performed  without  the 
help  and  power  of  God.  The  blind  were  made  to  see,  the  deaf  to 
hear,  the  dumb  to  speak,  the  lame  to  walk ;  the  insane  were  re- 
stored, the  sick  were  healed,  the  dead  were  raised,  the  sea  was 
calmed, — all  promptly  and  by  a  word.  About  such  miracles  there 
could  be  no  deception.  Most  of  them  were  frequently  performed, 
and  just  as  occasion  called  for  them-.  The  blind,  the  deaf,  the 
dumb,  the  lame,  the  insane,  the  sick,  the  dead,  were  all  known 
before  and  after  the  healing  and  restoring  power  was  applied  ; 
and  deception  was  impossible.  Now  these  miracles  were  wrought 
by  Christ  and  his  Apostles  in  proof  of  their  respective  claims. 
Christ  expressly  challenged  belief  on  account  of  his  works,  and 
miraculous  powers  were  the  proper  signs  of  an  Apostle.  Would 
God  thus  support  impostors  in  such  arrogant  pretensions  ?  They 
supported  their  claims, 

Secondly,  by  their  prophecies,  some  of  which  were  speedily  ful- 
filled, others  are  in  process  of  fulfilment  to  this  day.  Thus  Christ 
foretold  that  he  should  be  put  to  death  in  Jerusalem ;  that  he 
must  there  first  suffer  many  things  of  the  elders,  and  chief  priests, 
and  scribes  ;  that  they  would  condemn  him  to  death,  and  deliver 
him  to  the  Gentiles  to  mock  and  scourge  and  crucify  him  ;  that 
the  man  who  dipped  his  hands  with  him  in  the  same  dish,  should 
betray  him  into  their  power ;  that  the  rest  of  his  disciples  would 


168  THE   AUTHOEITY   OF  THE   Si^CEED   CANON. 

forsake  him  that  night,  and  one  of  them  deny  him  thrice;  that 
he  should  be  crucified ;  that  he  would  rise  again  the  third  day  ; 
that  he  would  meet  his  disciples  in  Galilee;  that  after  his  as- 
cension, the  Holy  Spirit  should  descend  on  them  at  Jerusalem  ; 
that  miraculous  powers  should  thenceforth  be  possessed  and  exer- 
cised by  them  ;  that  Jerusalem  should  be  besieged  and  taken,  and 
the  Temple  utterly  destroyed  before  all  then  living  were  dead ; 
that  the  city  should  be  trodden  under  foot  of  the  Gentiles,  until 
the  times  of  the  Gentiles  be  fulfilled ;  and  that  his  gospel  should 
universally  spread,  and  his  kingdom  triumph  over  all  opposition. 
Most  of  these  were  strikingly  fulfilled  before  that  generation 
passed  away  ;  others  are  in  process  of  glorious  accomplishment  at 
the  present  day. — Of  the  Apostles  few  prophecies  are  recorded : 
but  the  Saviour  promised  that  the  Spirit,  when  He  came,  should 
show  them  things  to  come  ;  and  everywhere  in  the  subsequent 
Scriptures,  Acts  as  well  as  the  Epistles,  we  find  frequent  reference 
to  the  gift  of  prophecy  as  one  enjoyed  even  by  some  in  the  Church 
who  were  inferior  to  Apostles.  Cases,  however,  are  recorded  in 
which  the  Apostles  did  foretell  near  events  which  came  duly  to 
pass,  as  well  as  remote  ones,  the  full  accomplishment  of  which 
remains  to  be  seen.*  The  certain  knowledge  of  future  things  is 
as  much  a  direct  gift  of  God  as  the  power  of  miracles,  and  like  it 
would  not  be  bestowed  on  impostors  of  such  daring  pretensions. — 
In  further  proof  of  their  claims  I  plead, 

Thirdly,  their  doctrines^  so  unlike  and  superior  to  all  the 
philosophy  of  the  ancients,  so  becoming  the  character  and  pro- 
motive of  the  glory  of  God,  so  suited  to  the  spiritual  necessities 
of  man.  The  doctrines  of  a  Triune  God,  infinitely  holy  and 
infinitely  perfect;  of  the  creation  of  ail  things  out  of  nothing; 
of  the  original  perfection  and  subsequent  fall  of  man  ;  of  his  re- 
demption by  the  obedience  and  death  of  Him  who  was  at  once 
the  Son  of  God  and  the  Son  of  Man  ;  of  the  gracious  operations 
of  the  Holy  Spirit,  by  which  alone  man  can  attain  again  to  the 
lost  image  of  his  Maker ;  of  a  providence  that  extends  alike  to 
the  whole  and  every,  even  the  minutest  part  of  creation ;  of  a 
future  resurrection,  and  a  universal  judgment,  and  everlasting 
rewards  of  blessedness  and  woe : — these,  and  others  connected 
with  them,  constitute  a  scheme  of  doctrines  far  above  all  the 
light  of  nature  and  all  the  philosophy  of  men,  suited  to  all  the 

*  See  2  Thess.  ii.  1-12.  1  Tim.  iv.  1-3.  2  Peter  ii.  throughout,  and  Revelation 
passim. 


THE   AUTHORITY   OF  THE   SACRED   CANON".  169 

solemn  exigencies  of  man's  moral  character  and  condition,  ahd 
glorious  to  all  the  perfections  of  God  ; — from  whom  alone,  there- 
fore, they  could  have  originated.  In  further  proof  of  the  justice 
of  their  claims  I  argue, 

Fourthly,  their  moral  code,  which  commends  itself  to  the  reason 
and  conscience  of  every  sound-minded  man.  Its  essence  is  su- 
preme love  to  God,  and  universal  love  towards  our  fellow-men ; 
self-abasement  of  the  sinner,  and  glory  in  the  highest  to  the  Crea- 
tor and  Redeemer,  and  Judge.  Virtues  are  inculcated  which  the 
ancients  never  knew,  or  even  regarded  as  vices ;  vices  are  con- 
demned which  they  esteemed  to  be  virtues.  The  great  rule  of 
life  is  the  will  of  God ;  his  glory  and  the  creature's  good,  man's 
chief  end.  Such  a  code,  bad  men  could  not  have  originated,  and 
would  not  have  propagated  at  such  sacrifices  and  hazard,  if  at 
all ;  good  men  would  not  have  falsely  ascribed  them  to  God. 

I  say,  therefore,  that  our  Saviour  was  divine  and  his  Apostles 
inspired,  and  consequently  our  New  Testament  was  from  God. 
It  was  written  by  men,  or  at  the  dictation  and  with  the  approval 
of  men,  who  gave  abundant  proof  that  they  spoke  and  wrote  as 
they  were  moved  by  the  Holy  Ghost :  by  men  who  had  commis- 
sion from  Christ  to  establish  and  order  his  Church  upon  the 
foundation  which  he  had  laid,  with  the  broad  promise  that  he 
was  with  them  to  the  end  of  the  world,  and  ihat  what  they 
bound  on  earth  should  be  bound  in  heaven,  and  what  they  loosed 
on  earth  should  be  loosed  in  heaven.  The  New  Testament, 
therefore,  comes  from  them  to  us  with  the  solemn  imprimatur 
of  God. 

IV.  My  fourth  proposition  is,  that  Christ  and  his  Apostles  en- 
dorsed the  Jewish  Canon,  as  it  then  existed,  as  Divine  Scrip- 
tures :  that  this  Canon  was  the  same  as  our  Old  Testament :  and 
consequently,  that  this  also  is  complete  and  from  God. 

The  first  part  of  this  proposition,  that  the  Saviour  and  his 
Apostles  endorsed  the  Jewish  Canon  as  it  then  existed,  as  Divine 
Scriptures,  scarcely  needs  demonstration  before  this  audience. 
Every  reader  of  the  New  Testament  knows  how  constantly  they 
make  their  appeal  to  the  Jewish  Scriptures  as  authoritative  and 
Divine.  '•  I  was  daily  with  you,"  says  Christ  to  those  who  came 
to  apprehend  him,  "  in  the  temple  teaching,  and  ye  took  me  not : 
but  the  Scriptures  must  be  fulfilled."*  "Think  not  that  I  am 
come  to  destroy  the  Law  or  the  Prophets  :  I  am  not  come  to  de- 

*  Mark  xiv.  49. 


170  THE   AUTHORITY   OF  THE  SACRED   CANON. 

stroy  but  to  fulfil."  * — "  These  are  the  words  which  I  spake  unto 
you  while  I  was  yet  with  you,  that  all  things  must  be  fulfilled 
which  were  written  in  the  Law  of  Moses,  and  in  the  Prophets, 
and  in  the  Psalms  concerning  me."t  In  these  and  many  like  pas- 
sages, the  authority  of  the  Scriptures  received  by  the  Jews  is 
acknowledged  and  confirmed  :  and  they  are  referred  to,  not  only  in 
a  general  way,  par  excellence,  as  Divine,  but  the  several  divisions 
of  the  books,  according  to  the  classification  prevalent  at  the 
time,  as  we  shall  presently  see,  are  distinctly  mentioned.  "All 
Scripture,"  says  Paul, — naaa.  -/Qncpr],  all  the  parts  or  books  which 
compose  the  whole, — "is  given  by  inspiration  of  God  ;  and  is  pro- 
fitable for  doctrine,  for  reproof,  for  correction,  for  instruction  in 
righteousness. "+  "  Prophecy,"  says  Peter,  "  came  not  in  old  time 
by  the  will  of  man  ;  but  holy  men  of  God  spake  as  they  were 
moved  by  the  Holy  Ghost."§  Here,  in  like  manner,  the  Apostles 
endorse  all  the  Scriptures,  in  current  use  among  the  Jews,  as 
inspired  of  God.  and  consequently  possessing  Divine  authority. 
So  throughout  the  New  Testament :  the  writers  themselves  con- 
stantly appeal,  and  they  represent  Christ  as  thus  appealing  to  the 
current  Jewish  Scriptures  as  the  Word  of  God.  The  common 
forms  of  quotation  show  the  esteem  in  which  they  held  them : 
"As  it  is  written  ;"  "Thus  saith  the  Scriptures ;""  Thus  saith 
the  Lord  ;"  "  As  the  Holy  Ghost  saith  ;"  "  He  saith,"  &c.  While 
they  thus  freely  appeal  to  the  Jewish  Scriptures,  they  never  intima- 
ted that  these  Scriptures  contained  any  which  ought  not  to  have 
been  in  them,  nor  that  any  which  should  have  been  in  them  had 
been  taken  away.  They  charge  the  Jewish  teachers  with  per- 
verting and  setting  them  aside  by  their  traditions,  but  never  with 
adding  to  or  taking  from  the  Scriptures  themselves.  They,  there- 
fore, plainly  endorse  the  Jewish  Canon  as  authoritative  and  com- 
plete. 

It  only  remains  that  I  show  the  truth  of  the  second  part  of  my 
proposition,  that  the  Jeioish  Canon  loas  the  same  as  our  Old 
Testament,  and  we  are  ready  for  the  conclusion,  that  this  also  is 
complete  and  from,  God. 

We  have  then  before  us  another  plain  historical  inquiry, — What 
books  composed  the  Jewish  Canon  at  the  time  of  our  Saviour  and 
his  Apostles?  And  it  devolves  on  me  to  prove  that  they  were  the 
very  same  which  compose  our  present  Old  Testament  Canon. 
That  this  was  the  fact,  I  argue 

*  Matt.  V,  17.  -j-  Luke  xxiv.  44.  X  2  Tim.  iii  16.  §  2  Peter  i.  21. 


-i 


THE  AUTHORITY  OF  THE  SACRED  CANON.        171 

1.  First, /rom  the  testimony  of  the  New  Testament  itself. 

Here  we  find  nearly  all  the  books  of  our  Old  Testament  quoted, 
or  clearly  alluded  to;*  and  nothing  quoted  or  alluded  to  as  divine 
Scripture,  which  is  not  contained  in  it.  The  only  plausible  ex- 
ceptions to  this  last  statement  are  the  mention  of  the  names, 
Jannes  and  Jambres,  in  Paul's  2d  Epistle  to  Timothy,  as  the 
names  of  those  who  withstood  Moses ;  and  of  the  prophecy  of 
Enoch,  and  Michael's  contest  with  Satan  for  the  body  of  Moses, 
in  the  Epistle  of  Jude: — of  all  which  it  is  enough  to  say,  that  it 
has  never  been  proved  that  they  were  cited  from  any  book  at  all, 
and  that,  if  they  were,  it  does  not  follow  that  the  books  were 
cited  as  divine  and  canonical.  It  is  sufficient  that  the  matters 
referred  to  were  facts :  and  the  citation  from  the  books  in  which 
they  were  found,  no  more  proves  the  canonical  authority  of  these 
books,  unless  it  can  be  shown  that  they  belonged  to  the  Jewish 
Canon  at  the  time, — which  no  one  will  affirm, — than  Paul's  cita- 
tions from  certain  writings  of  Aratus  or  Cleanthes,  Menander, 
and  Epimenides  proves  them  to  be  of  divine  authority.  An  in- 
spired writer  may  cite  or  refer  to  uninspired  writings ;  the  writers 
and  compilers  of  the  Old  Testament  not  unfrequently  did  so : — ■ 
but  such  bare  citations  or  references,  even  when  admitted  to  be 
such,  can  only  prove  the  existence  of  the  writings  and  their  truth- 
fulness in  the  particulars  cited  or  referred  to  as  true.  They  be- 
come proofs  of  the  canonical  authority  of  the  writings  only  when 
they  are  cited  or  referred  to  as  divine  Scriptures  ;  or  when  there  is 
other  sufficient  proof,  that  they  belonged  to  the  Canon  of  Scrip- 
lures  which  the  inspired  writers  endorsed  as  of  divine  authority. 
Such  is  not  the  character  of  the  alleged  citations  or  references. 
Even  admitting  that  books  were  cited  or  referred  to,  there  is  noth- 
ing to  indicate  that  they  were  regarded  by  the  inspired  writers  as 
having  divine  authority ;  and  there  is  abundant  other  proof  that 
the  Jewish  Canon,  which  they  endorsed,  contained  no  such  wri- 
tings. On  the  other  hand,  the  books  of  our  Old  Testament, 
which  are  quoted  or  referred  to,  are  quoted  or  referred  to  as  divine, 
in  the  way  that  I  have  already  mentioned ;  or  there  is  abundant 
other  proof  that  they,  as  well  as  the  books  which  are  not  quoted 
or  referred  to,  were  all  contained  in  the  Jewish  Canon  as  endorsed 
by  Christ  and  his  Apostles. — I  proceed  with  this  testimony,  and 
adduce, 

*  The  books  not  cited,  according  to  Eichhorn  (Einleitung  in  d.  A.  T.  §  37),  are 
Judges,  Ezra,  Nehemiah,  Esther,  Ecclesiastes,  and  Song  of  Solomon. 


172  THE  AUTHORITY   OF   THE   SACRED   CANON". 

2.  Next,  the  testitnony  of  ancient  Jeioish  writers. 

Amongst  these  Josephus  stands  pre-eminent.  He  was  born  soon 
after  our  Saviour's  death, — about  a.d.  37,— and  flourished  partly 
in  the  age  of  the  Apostles.  He  was  of  priestly  extraction,  care- 
fully educated  in  the  religion  and  literature  of  his  country;  and, 
at  a  later  period,  devoted  himself  with  great  assiduity  and  success 
to  the  language  and  literature  of  the  Greeks.  He  espoused  the 
cause  of  his  country  when  invaded  by  the  Romans ;  but  was 
early  taken  prisoner,  and  acted  as  interpreter  for  Vespasian  and 
Titus  until  the  conquest  of  Jerusalem,  when  he  was  carried  to 
Rome,  and  permitted  to  dwell  in  the  imperial  palace.  Here  he 
wrote  his  History  of  the  Jewish  War,  and  his  account  of  the 
Jewish  Antiquities.  No  man  of  his  age  and  country  was  better 
able  to  relate  the  customs  and  opinions  and  history  of  his  own 
people.  In  his  maturer  life  he  wrote  a  treatise  against  Apion,  an 
Alexandrian  grammarian,  who  had  violently  assailed  the  Jewish 
nation.  In  this  treatise,*  defending  the  authenticity  and  credi- 
biUty  of  the  Jewish  Scriptures,  he  writes  as  follows  : — 

"  For  we  have  not  amongst  us  myriads  of  books,  discordant 
and  conflicting,  but  only  twenty-two  books,  containing  the  history 
of  all  (past)  time  and  justly  believed  to  be  divine.  Of  these  five 
belong  to  Moses,  which  contain  the  laws  and  the  tradition  of  the 
origin  of  mankind  until  his  death :  this  period  is  little  less  than 
three  thousand  years.  From  the  death  of  Moses  to  the  reign  of 
Artaxerxes,  king  of  the  Persians  after  Xerxes,  the  Prophets  who 
were  after  Moses  recorded  the  events  of  their  times  in  thirteen 
books.  The  four  remaining  books  contain  hymns  to  God,  and 
rules  of  life  for  men.  From  Artaxerxes  to  our  own  time  every- 
thing has  been  written ;  but  it  is  not  esteemed  of  equal  credit 
with  what  preceded,  because  there  has  not  been  an  exact  succes- 
sion of  Piophets.  And  it  is  evident  from  fact,  how  we  believe  in 
our  Scriptures :  for  through  so  long  a  period  already  elapsed,  no 
one  has  dared  to  add  anything,  or  to  take  from  them,  or  to  make 
alterations  ;  but  it  is  implanted  in  all  Jews,  from  their  very  birth, 
to  consider  them  oracles  of  God  {dBov  doyfiara),  and  to  abide  b)' 
them,  and  for  them,  if  need  be,  cheerfully  to  die." 

In  this  important  passage  of  Josephus,  we  notice,  Jlrst,  a  divi- 
sion of  the  books  which  composed  the  Jewish  Scriptures  into  three 
classes.  We  have  already  met  with  the  same  division  in  the  New 
Testament  :t  "  All  things  must  be  fulfilled  which  were  written  in 
*  B.  i.  §  8.  f  Luke  xxiv.  44. 


THE  AUTHORITY   OF  THE   SACEED   CANON.  173 

the  Law  of  Moses  and  in  the  Prophets  and  in  the  Psahiis  concern- 
ing me."  We  find  it  about  the  same  time  in  Philo,  a  learned  Jew 
of  Alexandria  (a.d.  41),  who,  speaking  of  the  Essenes,  a  Jewish 
sect,  says  that  there  was  in  every  house  a  sanctuary  into  which 
they  introduced  nothing  but  "the  Laws,  and  the  Oracles  which  were 
uttered  by  the  prophets,  and  the  Hymns  and  other  writings  by 
which  knowledge  and  piety  increase  together  and  are  perfected."* 
We  find  it  still  earher  (b.c.  130-230 1)  in  the  preface  to  the  transla- 
tion of  the  work  entitled  Tlie  Wisdo7n  of  Sirach,  by  his  grand- 
son. He  several  times  distinctly  mentions  the  Law,  the  Proph- 
ets, and  the  other  books,  which  had  been  diligently  studied  by  his 
grandfather  before  he  undertook  his  own  work.  From  all  these  it 
is  evident,  that  long  before  the  time  of  Christ,  the  Old  Testament 
books  constituted  a  well-known  and  received  Canon  amongst  the 
Jews  : — in  other  words,  that  the  Canon  of  the  Old  Testament  had 
long  been  closed,  and  the  books  arranged  under  three  definite 
divisions.  The  third  class  would  seem  at  first  to  have  had  no  dis- 
tinctive name  :  but  as  the  other  two  were  specifically  and  appropri- 
ately designated,  this  class,  for  the  want  of  an  appropriate  name, 
was  simply  called  for  distinction's  sake,  '  the  other  Scriptures  ;' 
— in  the  time  of  Christ,  'Psalms,'  or,  'Hymns  and  Practical 
Books,'  from  the  place  which  the  Psalms  held  in  the  division,  or 
from  the  prevailing  character  of  the  books  ;  and  afterwards  again, 
as  we  shall  see,  simply  '  Scriptures,'  or  '  Holy  Scriptures  't 

We  notice,  secondly,  that  Josephus  mentions  the  number, 
though  not  the  names,  of  the  books  belonging  to  each  class.  Of 
the  Law  there  were  five,  of  the  Prophets  thirteen,  and  of  the 
Hymns  and  Practical  Books  four :  in  all  twenty-two.  Had  he 
given  us  a  list  of  the  books  in  each  class,  his  testimony  would 
have  been  complete  in  itself.  But  there  is  little  difficulty  in  show- 
ing the  identity  of  the  Jewish  Canon  as  thus  described  with  our  '^5''"^ 
present  Old  Testament.  The  five  hooks  of  the  Law  were  cer- 
tainly, according  to  universal  consent  ancient  and  modern,  the 
five  books  of  Moses, — Genesis,  Exodus,  Leviticus,  Numbers,  and 
Deuteronony.  By  Prophets  the  Jews  designated  those  who  were 
inspired  to  declare  the  will  of  God;  and  holding  firmly  that  such 
men  wrote  all  the  books  of  their  Canon,  the  thirteen  books  of  the 

*  De  Vit.  Contenipl.  §  3,  -where  it  seems  plain  from  the  following  context  that  he 
refers  to  the  received  Sacred  Scriptures. 

f  Havernick  places  the  grandfather  b.c.  200-300.     Einleitung  in  d.  A.  T.  §  8. 


174  THE  AUTHORITY   OF  THE   SACRED   CANON. 

Prophets^  combining  them  as  we  shall  see  was  common  in  order 
to  reduce  the  whole  number  to  that  of  the  letters  of  their  alpha- 
bet, must  in  distinction  from  the  others  have  been,  1.  Joshua, 
2.  Judges  with  Ruth,  3.  1st  and  2d  Samuel  4.  1st  and  2d  Kings, 
5.  1st  and  2d  Chronicles,  6.  Ezra  and  Nehemiah,  7.  Esther,  8.  Job, 
9,  Isaiah,  10.  Jeremiah  and  Lamentations,  11.  Ezekiel,  12.  Daniel, 
and  13.  the  twelve  minor  Prophets  reckoned  as  one.  The  four 
books  of  Hymns  and  Rules  of  Life  would  be  Psalms,  Proverbs, 
Ecclesiastes,  and  the  Song  of  Solomon.  The  coincidence  is  so 
complete,  that  few  have  ever  doubted  that  Josephus  refers  to  the 
very  books  that  compose  our  Old  Testament  Canon. 

We  notice,  thirdly,  that  Josephus  distinctly  states  that  after  the 
time  of  Artaxerxes.  before  which  all  these  books  had  been  written, 
Jewish  affairs  had  been  recorded  in  other  books,  which,  he  implies, 
were  duly  respected,  but  says  expressly  that  they  were  not  re- 
ceived on  a  par  with  the  others,  because  there  was  no  regular 
succession  of  Prophets  or  inspired  men.  These  books  can  only 
be  the  Apocryphal  books,  of  whose  early  existence  and  use,  as 
books  of  more  or  less  value,  we  have  abundant  proof,  but  whose 
want  of  inspired  authority  is  here  explicitly  affirmed  as  the  belief 
of  the  nation.  For  the  remainder  of  this  testimony  I  shall  have 
use  presently. 

The  conclusion  to  which  we  have  come  of  the  identity  of  the  Jew- 
ish Canon,  as  described  by  Josephus,  with  our  own  Old  Testament, 
is  strongly  confirmed  by  the  fact  that  Philo,  to  whom  I  have  al- 
ready referred  as  a  learned  Alexandrian  Jew,  nearly  contemporary 
with  Christ,  quotes  or  alludes  to  nearly  all  the  books  now  in  our 
Old  Testament  Canon  as  Divine  Scriptures,  while  he  never  makes 
use  of  the  Apocryphal  books,  certainly  never  quotes  them  as  au- 
thority.* 

3.  My  next  proof  of  the  identity  of  our  Old  Testament  and  the 
Jewish  Canon  endorsed  by  our  Saviour  and  his  Apostles,  is  de- 
rived/row  the  early  Christian  loriters. 

The  first  whom  I  adduce  is  Melito,  Bishop  of  Sardis  about  a.d. 
170,  and  renowned  alike  for  his  piety  and  his  learning.  In  an 
Epistlet  to  Onesimus,  his  brother,  after  mentioning  his  brother's 
earnest  desire  and  request  to  have  an  accurate  statement  of  the 
ancient  books,  he  says,  that  he  (Melito)  had  journeyed  to  the 
East  and  to  the  region  where  the  things  were  preached  and  done 

*  Eichhorn  Einleitung  in  d.  A.  T.  §  26.     De  Wette  on  the  0.  T.  (Parker)  §  176. 
f  Preserved  by  Eusebius,  Ecc.  Hist.  b.  'v.  c.  26. 


THE  AUTHORITY  OP  THE  SACRED  CANON".  175 

(i.  e.  Palestine),  and  having  accurately  ascertained  the  oooks  of 
the  Old  Testament,  he  subjoined  a  list  and  sent  it  to  him.  This 
list  is  exactly  the  same  as  ours,  only  differing  in  the  order  and 
omitting  the  book  of  Esther.  A  distinguished  critic*  supposes 
that  this,  as  well  as  the  book  of  Nehemiah,  was  included  under 
the  name  of  Ezra:  but  inasmuch  as  the  books,  when  summed  up 
according  to  Mehto's  mode  of  counting  them,  amount  on  his  hst 
only  to  twenty-one,  and  the  usual  reckoning  made  twenty-two,  it 
is  more  probable  that  Eusebius  or  his  transcriber  made  an  omission 
in  copying  off  the  catalogue, — a  like  omission  to  which  all  admit 
to  have  been  made  in  transcribing  the  list  of  Origen,  which  I  shall 
next  adduce.  I  wish  you,  however,  duly  to  consider  this  testi- 
mony of  Melito,  given  under  circumstances  so  favorable  to  accu- 
racy on  the  subject. 

Origen  flourished,  as  you  will  remember,  a.d.  230.  Of  his  learn- 
ing and  standing  in  the  early  Church,  I  need  not  speak  again. 
He  spent  his  life  in  Egypt  and  Palestine,  and  was  almost  the  only 
Father,  besides  Jerome,  who  understood  the  Hebrew  language. 
His  catalogue  of  the  books  of  the  Old  Testament  has  been  pre- 
served by  Eusebius.t  He  proposes  to  give  them  as  the  Hebrews 
had  transmitted  them,  and  prefaces  his  catalogue  with  the  remark, 
that  they  were  twenty-two  in  number  according  to  the  number  of 
letters  in  their  alphabet.  He  then  gives  the  list  of  the  books  both 
by  their  Greek  and  Hebrew  names,  combining  them,  as  he  says, 
after  the  mamier  of  the  Jews,  exactly  as  we  have  done  in  making 
out  the  testimony  of  Josephus, — thus  showing  the  correctness  of 
our  count  in  exhibiting  the  testimony  of  that  distinguished  Jew, 
and  the  identity  of  the  Jewish  Canon  as  described  by  him  with 
our  own  Old  Testament.  Origen's  catalogue  also  agrees  exactly 
with  ours,  except  that  he  unites  with  Jeremiah  and  his  Lamenta- 
tions what  he  calls  the  Epistle,  and  omits  the  minor  Prophets, 
thus  making  the  number  of  books  only  twenty-one.  What  he 
means  by  the  Epistle,  critics  are  not  agreed.  It  is  generally 
conceded,  however,  that  the  Apocryphal  Epistle  of  Jeremiah  was 
never  admitted  by  the  Jews  into  their  Canon :  and  it  is,  therefore, 
most  probable  that  the  Epistle,  referred  to  by  Origen,  is  one  incor- 
porated in  the  book  as  we  now  have  it.t  As  to  the  twelve  Minor 
Prophets,  always  counted  as  one  book  and  written  on  one  roll,  it  is, 
I  may  say,  certain  that  the  omission  of  them  is  a  mistake  of  Eu- 

*  Eichhorn,  Einleitung  in  d.  A.  T.  §  62.  f  Euseb.  Ecc.  Hist.  b.  vl  c.  25. 

\  See  however  Havernick,  Einleitung  in  d.  A.  T.  §  1 5.    Eichhorn,  ib.  §  54. 


176  THE  AUTHORITY  OF  THE  SACRED  CANON. 

sebiiis  01"  a  transcriber,  not  a  defect  in  Origen's  catalogue.  They 
are  necessary  to  make  up  the  whole  number  twenty-two^  stated  in 
his  prefatory  remark :  they  are  found  in  RufRnus'  translation  of 
this  same  catalogue  and  in  Hilary's  Prologue  to  the  Psalms,  which, 
according  to  Jerome,  was  taken  mostly  fromOrigen:*  they  are 
included  in  Origen's  celebrated  work,  the  Hexapla :  he  also  wrote 
a  Commentary  upon  them,  in  twenty-five  volumes,  which  were 
still  extant  in  the  time  of  Eusebius  :t  and  he  quotes  them  in  his 
works  that  have  come  down  to  us,  as  of  equal  authority  with  the 
other  books  of  the  Old  Testament.  I  will  only  add,  that,  at  the 
end  of  his  catalogue,  he  expressly  excludes  the  books  of  the  Mac- 
cabees. He  sometimes  quotes  some  of  the  Apocryphal  books  of 
the  Old  as  well  as  of  the  New  Testament,  as  sacred :  but  it  is 
evident  from  his  catalogues  and  statements  found  in  his  works, 
that,  by  such  epithets,  he  did  not  mean  to  designate  them  as  be- 
longing to  the  Sacred  Canon  of  Inspired  Scriptures,  but  only  as 
good  books  proceeding  from  men  whose  minds  were  renewed  and 
enlightened  by  the  Spirit  of  God.l: 

I  can  only  refer  to  the  catalogues  of  Athanasius,  Cyril  of  Jeru- 
salem, the  Council  of  Laodicea,  Epiphanius,  Gregory  Nazianzen, 
and  Amphilochius.  They  all  agree  with  our  Old  Testament 
Canon,  except  that  several  of  them,  after  Melito,  omit  the  book  of 
Esther,  and,  besides,  mention  Baruch  and  the  Epistle,  with  Jere- 
miah, whose  prophecies,  as  we  have  them,  probably  include  all 
that  these  writers  meant.  All  of  them  reduce  the  number  of 
books  to  twenty-two,  by  combining  them  after  the  manner  of  the 
Jews  so  as  to  accord  with  the  number  of  the  letters  in  the  Hebrew 
Alphabet ;  and  several  of  them  expressly  exclude  fewer  or  more 
of  the  Apocryphal  books  by  name, — mentioning  however,  at  the 
same  time,  that  they  were  read  in  the  Churches  and  by  private 
Christians  as  profitable  works,  especially  for  Catechumens.  Dis- 
missing these  with  this  brief  notice, 

I  adduce  next  the  more  important  testimony  of  Jerome,  the 
most  learned,  as  we  have  seen,  of  the  Latin  Fathers.  He  spent 
the  latter  and  principal  part  of  his  life  in  Palestine,  diligently  pros- 
ecuting Biblical  Literature ;  and  besides  his  general  attainments, 
he  was  well  acquainted  with  Hebrew,  and  got  most  of  his  Hebrew 
learning  from  Jewish  teachers.  He  was,  therefore,  peculiarly 
qualified  to  state  accurately,  the  Canon  of  the  Jewish  Scriptures, 

*  Eichhorn,  Einleitung  in  i  A.  T.  §  54.  \  Euseb.  Ecc.  Hist.  b.  vi.  c  36. 

:|:  Thornwell,  Arguments  of  Romanists,  <fec.  letter  xv. 


THE  AUTHOEITY   OF  THE   SACRED   CANON.  177 

as  received  both  by  the  Jews  and  by  Christians.  His  works  fur- 
nish us  several  Catalogues,  all  of  which  agree  exactly  with  our 
Old  Testament  Canon.  In  his  famous  Prologus  Galeatus,*  he 
states  that  the  Hebrews  reckoned  twenty-two  volumes  (or  books) 
after  the  number  of  letters  in  their  Alphabet.  He  then  enumer- 
ates five  books  of  the  Law,  eight  of  the  Prophets,  and  nine  of  the 
Hagiographa,  in  all  twenty-two : — thus  preserving  the  same  general 
division  of  the  books  into  three  classes,  which  we  have  seen  was 
prevalent  at  and  before  the  time  of  our  Saviour,  but  arranging 
the  books  under  the  last  two  classes  differently  from  Josephus,  and 
possibly  from  the  prevalent  custom  of  earlier  times,t  and  following 
the  arrangement  of  the  Jewish  Rabbins.  The  arrangement  of 
the  books,  however,  does  not  at  all  affect  the  testimony  for  the 
purpose  for  which  I  adduce  it.  The  evidence  of  Jerome  remains 
incontestable,  that  the  ancient  Jewish  Canon  was  identically  the 
same  as  our  present  Old  Testament  Canon.  "This  prologue,"  he 
continues,  "  I  write  as  a  preface  to  all  the  books  to  be  translated 
by  me  from  the  Hebrew  into  Latin,  that  we  may  know  that  all 
the  books  which  are  not  of  this  number  are  to  be  reckoned 
Apocryphal :"+  and  then  especially  mentions  the  Wisdo9n  of  tSoIo- 
mon,  the  book  of  Jesus,  the  Son  of  Sirach,  commonly  called 
Ecclesiasticus  or  Wisdom  of  Sirach,  Judith,  Tobit,  and  the 
Shepherd,  as  not  in  the  Canon.  In  his  preface  to  the  books  of 
Solomon,  after  mentioning  the  book  of  Jesus,  the  son  of  Sirach, 
and  the  Wisdom  of  Solomon,  he  says,  that  "  as  the  Church  read 
the  books  of  Judith  and  Tobit  and  the  Maccabees,  but  did  not 
admit  them  among  its  Canonical  Scriptures,  so  also  it  might  read 
these  two  books  for  the  edification  of  the  people,  but  not  for  estab- 
lishing the  authority  of  the  doctrines  of  the  Church."  He  trans- 
lated, indeed,  the  books  of  Judith  and  Tobit  at  the  desire  of  his 
friends  ;  but  in  the  preface  to  each  he  brands  them  as  Apocryphal, 
and  not  received  by  the  Jews.     In  the  prologue  to  his  translation 

*The  preface  to  his  Latin  translation  of  the  books  of  Samuel  and  Kings, — the  first 
that  he  made.  "  Hie  prologus  Scripturarum,"  says  he,  "  quasi  galeatum  principiuin 
omnibus  libris  quos  de  Hebra^o  vertimus  in  Latinum  convenire  potest,  ut  scire  valea- 
mu3  quicquid  extra  lies  est  inter  Apocrypha  esse  ponendum." 

f  See  Stuart  on  the  0.  T.  §  12.  Comp.  further  Lardner,  "Works,  vol.  ii.  pp.  543-547. 
Hengstenberg,  Beitrage,  i.  pp.  23  seq.  Havernick,  Einleituug,  i.  §  §  9,  11,  14.  Eich- 
horn,  Einleitung,  i-  §  §  *7, 8.  Jerome  also  states  that  some  enrolkd  Ruth  and  Lamen- 
tations among  the  Hagiographa,  and  thus,  by  counting  them  separately  from  Judges 
and  Jeremiah  respectively,  made  out  twenty-four  books.  So  we  find  them  in  the 
Talmud.     No  particular  order  of  arrangement  seems  to  have  universally  prevailed. 

\  See  the  original,  note,  *  above. 

12 


178  THE  AUTHOEITY   OF  THE  SACRED  CANON. 

of  Jeremiah,  he  says,  he  does  not  translate  the  book  of  Bariich, 
because  it  was  not  in  the  Hebrew,  nor  received  by  the  Hebrew  s  : 
and,  for  the  same  reason,  in  the  prologue  to  his  Commentary  on 
Jeremiah,  he  declines  to  explain  it,  as  also  the  Pseudipigraphal 
Epistle  of  Jeremiah.  In  the  preface  to  his  translation  of  Daniel, 
lie  says  that  the  Jews  did  not  have  in  their  (Hebrew)  copies  of  the 
book  the  Story  of  Susannah,  nor  the  So7ig-  of  the  Three  Children 
in  the  furnace,  nor  the  Fables  of  Bel  and  the  Dragon,  and  that 
Christians  were  ridiculed  for  paying  so  much  regard  to  them. 

This  testimony  of  Jerome  is  as  satisfactory  as  we  could  desire. 
The  Sacred  Canon  as  received  by  the  Jews  in  their  Hebrew  copies, 
consisted  of  the  very  books  that  make  up  our  Old  Testament 
Canon,  and  of  no  others.  Other  books  indeed  were  read  by 
(christians, — as  Josephus  says,  without  mentioning  names,  that 
some  were  by  Jews  ; — and  it  would  appear  from  some  of  the  cat- 
alogues to  wliich  I  have  referred,  that  some  of  them  (Baruch  and 
the  Epistle  of  Jeremiah)  were  very  possibly,  from  ignorance  of 
the  Hebrew  language  and  inadvertence  to  the  Jewish  custom,  ad- 
mitted into  the  Canon  of  the  Old  Testament.  But  it  is  the  un- 
equivocal testimony  of  Jerome,  than  whom  no  one  was  more 
competent  to  speak  in  the  case,  that  none  of  them  were  received 
by  the  Jews  as  canonical,  and  that  Christians  ought  to  use  them, 
as  generally  the  churches  did  use  them,  like  other  useful  books, 
only  for  edification,  and  not  for  estabhshing  doctrines. 

The  last  testimony  which  I  shall  adduce  from  the  early  Chris- 
tian writers  is  that  of  Ruffinus,  the  contemporary  of  Jerome,  at 
first  his  friend  but  afterwards  his  enemy.  His  testimony  is  brief, 
but  to  the  purpose.  In  his  explication  of  the  Apostles'  Creed,  he 
proposes  to  enumerate  the  books,  for  both  the  Old  and  New  Tes- 
taments, which  had  been  handed  down  by  the  Fathers  as  inspired 
by  the  Holy  Spirit, — and  proceeds  :*  "  Of  the  Old  Testament,  in  the 
first  place,  are  the  five  books  of  Moses,  Genesis,  Exodus,  Leviticus, 
Numbers,  Deuteronomy.  After  these  are  Joshua,  the  son  of  Nun, 
and  the  Judges,  together  with  Ruth.  Next  the  four  books  of  the 
kingdoms,  which  the  Hebrews  reckon  two :  the  book  of  the  Re- 
mains, which  is  called  Chronicles :  and  two  books  of  Ezra,  which 
by  them  are  reckoned  one :  and  Esther.  The  Prophets  are 
Isaiah,  Jeremiah,  Ezekiel,  and  Daniel ;  and  besides,  one  book  of 
the  twelve  Prophets.  Job  also,  and  the  Psalms  of  David.  Solo- 
mon has  left  three  books  to  the  churches,  the  Proverbs,  Ecclesias- 
*  Lirdner's  Works,  vol.  ii.  p.  573. 


THE  AUTHORITY   OF  IHE   SACRED   CANON.  179 

tes,  and  the  Song  of  Songs.  With  these  they  conclude  the  num- 
ber of  the  books  of  the  Old  Testament."  He  then  gives  the  New 
Testament  precisely  as  ours,  and  continues:  "These  are  the  vol- 
umes which  the  Fathers  have  included  in  the  Canon,  and  out  of 
which  they  would  have  us  prove  the  doctrines  of  our  faith."  He 
then  adds,  that  there  were  other  books  which  were  not  canonical, 
but  had  been  called  by  his  forefathers  ecc/esias^/caZ ; — mentions 
such  both  for  the  Old  and  New  Testaments ;  and  concludes : 
"All  which  they  would  have  to  be  read  in  the  churches,  but  not 
to  be  alleged  by  way  of  authority  for  proving  articles  of  faith." 

Such  is  the  testimony  of  Ruffinus.  "He  was,"  says  Dr.  Lard- 
ner,  "a  learned  man,  well  acquainted  both  with  the  Greek  and 
the  Latin  writers  of  the  Church,  and  had  travelled.  He  was  born 
in  the  western  part  of  the  empire :  but  he  was  also  acquainted 
with  the  Christians  in  Egypt  and  Palestine,  where  he  had  resided 
a  good  while."  I  only  add  that  he  combines  the  books,  as  others 
before  him  had  done,  after  the  Jewish  manner :  and  thus  the 
Jewish  Canon,  as  stated  by  him  also,  was  evidently  the  same  as 
our  Old  Testament.  It  deserves  also  to  be  noted  that  the  books, 
in  the  order  in  which  he  mentions  them,  may  be  divided  into  three 
classes  precisely  corresponding  witJi  the  division  of  Josephus  :  1st, 
Five  of  the  Law.  2d.  Thirteen  of  the  Prophets.  3d.  Four  of 
Hymns  and  Practical  Books : — ^thus  farther  clearing  and  confirm- 
ing the  invaluable  testimony  of  that  distinguished  author. 

Thus,  I  think,  it  is  clearly  made  out  from  the  testimony  of  the 
early  Christian  writers  who  have  given  us  catalogues,  that  the 
Jewish  Canon  as  endorsed  by  our  Saviour  and  his  Apostles  was 
precisely  the  same  as  that  of  our  Old  Testament.  It  appears 
indeed  that  other  books  were  read  in  the  churches,  and  it  is  possi- 
ble that  some  of  them  even  found  their  way  into  some  of  the  cat- 
alogues. But,  even  granting  that  the  authors  of  these  catalogues 
meant  other  compositions  than  those  now  in  our  Canon,  and  that, 
through  ignorance  of  the  Hebrew  language  and  of  the  Jewish 
custom,  they  supposed  them  to  belong  to  the  Canon  of  authorita- 
tive Scriptures,  the  testimony  is  conclusive,  that  the  books  which 
the  ancient  Jews  received  as  such,  and  which  ancient  Christians 
who  were  best  informed  received  as  such,  were  precisely  those  and 
only  those,  which  we  receive  at  the  present  day. 

4.  But  I  appeal  for  further  proof  of  this  identity  to  the  ancient 
direct  oriental  versions  of  the  Old  Testament,  and  to  the  uni- 
versal consent  of  the  Jews  of  all  ages. 


180  THE   AUTHORITY   OF   THE   SACRED   CANON. 

"The  Syriac  Version,  called  the  Peshito,"  says  De  Wette,* 
"  seems  to  be  one  of  the  oldest  translations  of  the  Bible."  Some 
think  that  the  translation  of  the  Old  Testament  was  made  be- 
fore Christ;  but  the  great  majority  of  critics  put  it  soon  after. 
It  adiieres  closely  to  the  Hebrew  text,  and  embraces  all  the  books, 
and  only  the  canonical  books  of  our  Old  Testament.!  This  tes- 
timony from  a  neighboring  country,  so  mixed  up  with  Jewish 
affairs  in  the  later  periods  of  their  commonwealth,  is  very  im- 
portant. 

But  we  have  also  Chaldee  Paraphrases  or  Targums,  as  they  are 
commonly  called,  two  of  which  are  very  ancient,  and  none  of 
them  later  than  the  9th  century.  They  are  generally  supposed 
to  have  originated  in  the  paraphrastic  interpretations  of  the  He- 
brew Scriptures  by  the  Rabbins,  as  they  were  read  in  the  Jewish 
synagogues.  That  of  Onkelos  on  the  Law  and  that  of  Jonathan 
Ben  Uzziel  on  the  Prophets,  according  to  the  Talmudic  arrange- 
ment mentioned  by  Jerome,  are  generally  referred  to  the  age  of 
Christ,  though  some  place  them  before,  others  somewhat  later. 
These  and  all  the  other  Targums,  embracing  each  only  a  portion 
of  the  books,  but  all  together  embracing  all  the  books  except 
Ezra,  Nehemiah  and  Daniel, — which  for  peculiar  reasonst  were 
omitted, — contain  none  other  than  the  books  of  our  Old  Testa- 
ment Canon. 

Indeed  all  Jewish  writers  from  Onkelos  to  the  present  time,  the 
Talmudists,  the  Masorets,  the  Historians,  the  Grammarians,  the 
Commentators, — all,  with  remarkable  unanimity,  agree  in  regard 
to  the  ancient  Jewish  Canon,  and  hold  this  to  be  the  same  as 
our  Old  Testament.  Christians  and  Jews  have  always  met  here 
as  on  a  common  platform. 

5.  Finally,  the  internal  testimony  conspires  with  the  external, 
«ow  adduced,  to  show  the  identity  of  our  Old  Testament  Canon 
with  the  authentic  Jewish  Scriptures  endorsed  by  our  Saviour 
and  his  Apostles. 

■'^  De  Wette  on  the  0.  T.  (Parker)  §  64.     Comp.  Eichhorn,  Einleitung,  §  248. 

•)•  The  Syriac  Version  of  the  Apocrypha  does  not  belong  to  this  Version.  De 
Wette  as  above,  §  64.     Eichhorn,  Einleitung,  §  252.     Havernick,  Einleitung,  §  83. 

\  Havernick  says,  "  The  reason  of  this  lies  no  doUbt  in  the  scrupulosity  of  the 
later  Jews,  who  believed  that  the  Chaldean  Version  of  the  two  books  might  after- 
wards easily  be  confounded  with  the  original  texts,  and  thus  prove  injurious  to  the 
pure  preservation  of  the  latter."  Portions  of  both  Ezra  and  Daniel  are  written  in 
Chaldee,  and  Nehemiah  was  reckoned  with  Ezra.  Kitto's  Cyc.  Bib.  Lit.  Art.  "  Daniel, 
Book  of."     Havernick,  Einleitung  in  d.  A.  T.  i.  S  82. 


THE  AUTHORITY   OF   THE   SACRED   CANON,  181 

I  can  here  only  indicate  the  line  of  evidence  which  my  time 
does  not  allow  me  to  pursue, — -We  can  trace  through  the  volume 
the  marks  both  of  stability  and  of  progress  in  the  Hebrew  lan- 
guage, precisely  correspondent  with  what  we  should  have  ex- 
pected from  our  knowledge  of  the  history,  habits,  and  circum- 
stances of  the  nation.  The  circumstantial  narrations  and  minute. 
allusions,  which  pervade  the  volume,  evince  the  intimate  ac- 
quaintance of  the  writers  with  the  relations  of  the  times  in  which 
they  lived  and  of  which  they  wrote,  and  the  utter  absence  alike 
of  all  disposition  to  deceive  and  of  all  fear  of  detection.  The 
doctrines  which  are  taught  and  the  duties  which  are  inculcated 
consist,  as  far  as  reason  can  judge,  with  the  glory  of  God  and 
the  nature  and  relations  of  man  ;  while  they  form,  together  with 
the  revelations  and  institutions  which  are  so  peculiar  to  the 
volume,  the  long  but  requisite  preface  and  introduction  to  the 
New  Testament,  which  records  their  more  perfect  development 
and  fulfilment.  It  matters  not  that  we  be  able  to  determine  the 
author  of  each  particular  book.  It  is  enough  that  we  know  the 
names  and  ages  and  characters  of  the  principal  authors,  and  that 
we  have  the  testimony  of  Christ  and  his  Apostles,  that  they  all 
proceeded  from  men  who  wrote  as  they  were  moved  by  the  Holy 
Ghost,  and,  therefore,  constitute  a  part  of  the  Revelation  of  God, 

Thus,  my  hearers,  have  I  endeavored  to  vindicate  the  claims 
of  our  Old  and  New  Testaments,  to  be  the  Canon  of  Divine 
Truth,  I  could  wish  that  my  time  had  allowed  the  fuller  pres- 
entation of  some  branches  of  the  evidence,  that  you  might  re- 
ceive its  whole  and  just  impression.  But  I  trust  that  enough  has 
been  said  to  establish  the  conviction  in  your  minds,  that  the 
volume  before  us  comes  to  us  with  the  marks  of  truth  and  the 
seal  of  God  ;  and  that  he  who  refuses  to  read,  and  understand, 
and  believe,  must,  if  he  will  be  consistent,  consign  all  the  past  to 
barren  skepticism  ;  or  deny  that  man  is  responsible  for  his  faith, 
even  where  God  has  made  known  the  truth :  and,  unless  all  his- 
tory be  a  lie,  may  expect  at  the  last  to  be  confounded  for  his  un- 
belief. 

But  I  have  yet  to  prove  the  integrity  of  the  text  of  the  sacred 
Scriptures, 

V.  My  fifth  and  last  proposition,  then,  is  ihdX  the  text  of  the 
Old  and  Neiv  Testaynents  has  not  suffered  materially  in  the 
transmission,  or  so  as  to  invalidate,  in  the  slightest  degree,  its 
diviiie  and  binding  authority. 


182        THE  AUTHORITY  OF  THE  SACRED  CANON. 

I  readily  admit  thai  the  text  has  suffered  some.  I  admit  that 
no  miraculous  influence  has  preserved  it  from  errors,  which 
naturally  creep  into  all  writings  that  are  frequently  copied,  how- 
ever carefully.  But  I  assert  that,  in  the  good  providence  of  God, 
such  has  been  the  care  and  such  have  been  the  causes  that  have 
operated  to  preserve  the  text  of  the  sacred  Scriptures,  that  no 
such  corruption  lias  ever  befallen  it  as  at  all  to  destroy  its  validity, 
or  the  binding  authority  of  the  truths  which  it  contains.  I  affirm, 
that  of  no  ancient  writings  whatever,  is  the  integrity  of  the  text 
so  demonstrable  and  unimpeachable.  History  shows  that  the 
sacred  Scriptures, — as  we  should  have  anticipated  from  their 
origin  and  nature, — have  from  the  beginning  been  sought,  and 
studied,  and  copied,  and  quoted,  and  compared,  and  translated, 
and  commented,  and  discoursed  on,  as  no  other  books  have  ever 
been:  and  thus  we  have,  at  once,  the  surest  guarantee  for' the 
preservation  of  both  the  Canon  and  the  Text. 

I  shall  first  prove  the  integrity  of  the  text  of  the  Old  Testa- 
ment, and  then  that  of  the  New. 

A.  First,  then,  the  integrity  of  the  text  of  the  Old  Testa- 
ment. 

The  proof  of  this  lies  in  the  circumstances  which,  at  least, 
would  seem  to  render  wilful  or  accidental  corruption  of  the  text 
to  any  important  extent  impossible,  and  in  the  evidence  that  no 
such  corruption  has  in  fact  ever  taken  place. 

I  argue  i\\ex\,  first,  that  anterior  to  the  time  of  Christ,  the  num- 
ber of  copies  in  circulation  would  greatly,  if  not  effectually  pre- 
vent the  corruption  of  the  text. 

A  copy  of  the  Law  and  of  the  subsequent  sacred  writings  was 
kept  deposited  in  the  Temple.  This  appears  from  numerous  hints 
in  the  Scriptures,  from  the  testimony  of  Josephus,  from  the  custom 
of  ancient  nations  generally,  and  from  the  probability  of  the 
thing  in  itself.*  The  king  of  the  nation  was  required  to  keep  a 
copy  of  the  Law  for  his  own  guidance  and  observance.  The 
priests  and  magistrates  mi.^t  necessarily  have  had  copies  to  study, 
in  order  to  perform  aright  their  various  functions.  The  Law  was 
required  to  be  read  to  the  people  every  seventh  year  at  the  Feast 
of  Tabernacles.  Parents  were  required  to  teach  it  to  their  chil- 
dren, by  the  wayside  and  by  the  fireside.  It  stands  to  reason 
that  the  pious  portion  of  the  people  would  desire,  and,  when  it 

*  Comp.  Deut.  xxxi.  Josh.  xxiv.  26.  1  Saml.  x.  25.  Joseph.  Ant.  Jud.  iii.  1.  in'^oX  ci 
S¥  TO)  lepio  dvaKeifiem]  ypaipi]  k,  r.  X.  and  7. 1.  (J/jXoiirai  6ia  twv  iiva<ti)icvwr  tvTOjlep'o  ypajty'iruv. 


THE  AUTHORITY   OF  THii   SACRED   CANON.  ISH 

was  possible  to  meet  the  expense,  would  actually  possess  copies 
of  what  they  beheved  to  be  the  Law  and  the  Word  of  God.  1 
know,  indeed,  that  in  the  days  of  Josiah,  after  the  long  and  wicked 
reign  of  his  grandfather,  Manasseh,  and  the  shorter,  but  no  less 
wicked  reign  of  Anion,  his  father,  the  Law  would  seem  to  have 
Iain  in  the  Temple  a  neglected  and  almost  forgotten  book  ;*  and 
in  every  generation,  we  may  easily  believe  that  the  wicked  and 
the  unbelieving  cared  little  for  the  Word  of  God.  But  there  were 
never  wanting  those  who  feared  God  and  trembled  at  his  word. 
Even  in  the  reign  of  wicked  Ahab  and  Jezebel  there  were  seven 
thousand  such  in  Israel  alone,  who  had  not  bowed  the  knee  to 
Baal.  Amongst  all  these  it  is  utterly  incredible  that  there  were 
not  copies  of  the  sacred  Scriptures. 

I  argue,  secondly,  that  after  the  separation  of  the  ten  tribes 
under  Jeroboam,  the  son  of  Nebat  (b.c.  975),  the  mutual  jealousy 
between  Israel  and  Judah,  and  later  between  the  Jews  and  Sa- 
maritans, would  serve  to  guard  the  sacred  Scriptures, 

Notwithstanding  the  idolatry  of  Israel,  it  is  clear  that  they 
had  Priests  and  Prophets  and  righteous  men  amongst  them. 
Where  these  were,  there  were  always  fewer  or  more  copies  of  the 
sacred  Scriptures.  Piety  cannot  subsist  without  them.  The  Sa- 
maritans, who  succeeded  the  Israelites  in  Northern  Palestine  after 
they  had  been  carried  into  captivity,  had,  as  we  know,  copies  of 
the  Law  which  they  cherished.  The  jealousy,  which  was  strong 
between  Israel  and  Judah,  became  still  stronger  between  the 
Jews  and  the  Samaritans,  and  was  of  a  religious,  as  well  as  a 
political  nature.  It  is  obvious  that  this  jealousy  would  operate 
powerfully  to  guard  the  portions  of  the  Divine  word  which  they 
received  in  common, 

I  argue,  thirdly,  that  the  existence  of  inspired  Prophets  in 
Israel  and  Judah  till  after  the  captivity,  insured  the  sound  preser- 
vation of  the  sacred  text  until  the  prophetical  Spirit  had  departed 
from  the  nation. t 

It  is  generally  conceded — as  it  is  uniform  Jewish  tradition, 
and  the  substance  and  position  of  the  book  in  the  sacred  volume 
favors, — that  Malachi  was  the  last  of  the  Prophets,  about  b.c. 
400.     Until   this   time  there  had  been  a   regular  succession  of 

*  2  Kings  xxii.  8  Bcq. 

\  In  the  Pirka  Aboth,  one  of  the  oldest  books  of  the  Talmud,  and  the  tract  Baba 
Batbra  in  the  Babylonian  Gemaia,  we  find  the  Jewish  tradition  that,  after  Moses  and 
the  Elders,  the  sacred  books  were  watched  over  by  the  Prophets. 


184  THE   AUTHORITY   OF   THE   SACRED   CANON. 

Prophets,  sometimes  several  at  the  same  period,  amongst  the  cov- 
enant people  of  God.  Of  many  of  these  we  have  writings  in  our 
Canon  :  but  we  hear  nothing  from  them  of  any  effort  to  corrupt 
the  Word  of  God.  That  the  Prophets,  who  had  so  much  zeal  for 
the  Lord  of  Hosts,  and  who  so  often  came,  not  only  with  a  word 
of  consolation  to  the  faithful,  but  with  a  burden  of  reproofs  and 
judgments  for  the  wicked  and  unbelieving,  should  have  lifted  no 
voice  of  denunciation  against  the  impious  corrupters  of  God's 
word,  if  such  there  had  been,  is  utterly  incredible.  They  often 
condenm  the  wicked  and  pretended  Prophets  who  perverted  the 
message  and  word  of  the  Lord,  and  warn  the  people  against 
them,  and  appeal  to  the  Law  and  to  the  testimony :  but  we  never 
hear  the  charge  of  corrupting  the  sacred  Scriptures,  either  through 
remissness  or  design.  I  conclude,  therefore,  that  the  attempt  was 
never  made,  and  that  had  it  been  made,  it  could  never  have  suc- 
ceeded. 

I  diXgne,  fourthly,  for  the  integrity  of  the  Old  Testament  text 
from  the  reverence  which  the  Jews  are  known  to  have  entertained 
for  their  sacred  books. 

Had  we  no  testimony  to  the  fact,  we  should  yet,  from  the  very 
nature  of  the  case,  believe  that  a  people  who  professed  to  have 
Jehovah  as  their  covenant-God,  and  who  regarded  their  sacred 
Scriptures  as  his  authoritative  word,  would  never  permit  these  to  be 
wilfully  or  negligently  corrupted  so  as  to  invalidate  their  authority. 
It  would  be  a  violent  supposition  that  any  nation,  possessing  such 
books,  would  allow  them  to  be  multiplied,  or  diminished,  or  changed, 
except  by  what  was  regarded  as  authority  from  heaven.  But  we 
have  satisfactory  testimony  on  the  subject.  We  have  already 
heard  Josephus  say,  "  It  is  evident  from  fact  how  we  believe  in 
our  Scriptures :  for  through  so  long  a  period  already  elapsed,  no 
one  has  dared  to  add  anything,  or  to  take  from  them,  or  to  make 
alterations  ;  but  it  is  implanted  in  all  Jews  from  their  very  bii  th 
to  consider  them  oracles  of  God,  and  to  abide  by  them,  and  for 
them,  if  need  be,  cheerfully  to  die."*  The  strength  of  the  expres- 
sions of  the  historian  finds  justification  only  in  the  deep  reverence 
which,  we  must  believe,  was  entertained  by  the  people  for  th6 
sacred  writings,  however  much  they  may  have  disregarded  them 
in  their  practice. 

But  that  down  to  this  period — for  Josephus,  you  remember,  was 
contemporary  vith  the  Apostles, — the  Old  Testament  Scriptures 
*  Cont.  ApioD.  i.  §  8. 


THE   AUTHORITY  OF  THE  SACRED  CANON.  186 

had  been  ti-ansmitted  in  all  due  integrity,  I  argue,  ^^/«Zy  and  con- 
clusively, from  the  fact  already  proven,  that  Christ  and  his 
Apostles  constantly  appealed  to  them  as  authoritative,  and  conse- 
quently endorse  them  as  valid.  As  the  Prophets  had  done  with 
the  false  teachers  of  their  da)'^,  so  Christ  reproves  the  Pharisees 
and  Scribes  for  setting  aside  the  Word  of  God  by  their  vain  tradi- 
tions ;  and  the  Apostles  charge  upon  false  Judaizing  teachers  in 
the  Christian  churches  an  improper  use  of  the  Old  Testament 
institutions:  but  they  never  intimate  that  the  Scriptures  had  been 
so  corrupted,  as  at  all  to  affect  their  integrity  and  Divine  authority. 
On  the  contrary,  they  appeal  to  them,  refer  to  them,  and  commend 
others  for  searching  them  as  the  Word  of  God,  that  they  might 
prove  their  claims  and  the  Divine  authority  for  their  procedure. 

Sixthly.  Since  the  time  of  Christ,  the  same  scrupulous  regard 
of  the  Jews  for  the  sacred  text  has  continued  to  ensure  its  preser- 
vation. 

After  the  Babylonish  captivity  it  had  already  become  common, 
before  the  time  of  Christ,  to  read  in  their  synagogues  on  the  Sab- 
bath day,  and  expound  both  the  Law  and  the  Prophets.  Of  these 
synagogues,  we  learn,  from  the  Rabbins,  that  there  were  nearly 
five  hundred  in  Jerusalem,  previously  to  its  capture  by  the  Ro- 
mans. They  were  also,  and  had  been  for  some  generations,  and 
have  continued  to  be,  down  to  the  present  day,  scattered  in  all  the 
cities  throughout  the  world,  where  there  were  Jews  enough  to 
keep  them  up.  In  all  these  the  Law  and  the  Prophets  have  con- 
tinued to  be  read,  in  Manuscripts  written  with  the  utmost  care, 
according  to  the  most  rigid  rules  prescribed  by  their  Rabbins,  the 
antiquity  of  which  indeed  it  is  now  impossible  to  determine,  but 
whose  minute  and  punctilious  exactness  shows  the  exceeding  ca'e 
which  this  people  have  always  taken  of  their  sacred  records. 

Seventhly.  This  wide-spread  circulation  of  copies,  in  the  Jevnsh 
synagogues,  added  to  those  which  were  now  extensively  found  in 
private  hands  all  over  the  world,  rendered  it  utterly  impossible  for 
any  successful  combination  to  be  formed,  had  the  disposition  or 
purpose  ever  been  entertained,  to  corrupt  the  text  of  the  sacred 
Scriptures.  How  has  it  ever  been  possible  for  the  Jews  or  others, 
from  what  we  know  of  their  history  since  the  day  they  were  scat- 
tered from  their  capital  and  country,  to  effect  a  corruption  of  the 
sacred  text  thus  spread  over  all  the  world  ? 

Eighthly.  The  difficulty, — I  should  rather  say,  the  impossi- 
bility^ has  been  greatly  increased  by  the  translations,  commen- 


186  THE  AUTHORITY   OF  THE  SACRED   CANON, 

taries,  and  quotations  that  were  early  made  of  the  Old  Testa- 
ment. The  Septuagint  (Greek)  Version  had  been  made  several 
hundred  years  before  Christ,  and  was  early  and  has  continued  to 
be  widely  circulated.  The  Syriac  Version  was  extensively  used 
in  the  Eastern  churches.  The  Greek  Versions  of  Aquila,  Sym- 
machus,  and  Theodotion,  also  had  more  or  less  circulation  among 
both  Jews  and  Christians.  The  Latin  Versions  anterior  to 
Jerome,  and  finally  his  own,  spread  over  the  west,  and  at  last,  I 
may  say,  over  the  whole  world.  Origen  and  Jerome  at  least 
commented  on  the  original  Hebrew  text,  and  their  works  were 
sought  for  and  read.  Commentaries  were  multiplied  by  others 
on  the  translations,  and  quotations  both  from  the  originals  and 
the  Versions  were  made  by  these  distinguished  Fathers  and 
others,  far  too  numerous  to  allow  us  for  a  moment  even  to  dream 
that  the  original  has  been  altered,  and  the  translations,  and  com- 
mentaries, and  quotations  altered  so  as  to  conform  with  it. 

Ninthly.  From  the  fifth  to  the  tenth  century  Jewish  doctors, 
or  Masorites  as  they  are  commonly  called,  labored  on  the  text  of 
the  Old  Testament.  They  added  vowels  to  the  original  conso- 
nants so  as  to  preserve  the  traditionary  reading,  as  also  accents  or 
signs  to  mark  tlie  punctuation  and  tone,  and  to  regulate  the 
cantillation  of  the  Scriptures.  They  numbered  the  books,  the 
grand  and  sub-divisions,  the  verses,  the  words,  the  letters.  They 
ascertained  the  middle  sections  and  the  middle  verses  ;  they 
counted  how  often  each  word  and  each  letter  occurred  in  each 
book  and  in  the  whole  volume  ;  and  recorded  the  results.  All 
this  and  much  else  they  did,  partly  useful  and  partly  trifling ;  but 
all  helping, — though  subsequent  labors  of  like  kind  have  not  sus- 
tained all  their  enumerations, — to  make  it,  if  possible,  still  more 
impossible  ever  to  corrupt  the  Scriptures  in  the  future. 

TentJdy.  From  the  time  of  Christ  to  the  present  day,  Chris- 
tians and  Jews  have  held  the  Old  Testament  Scriptures  iu  equal 
veneration.  Their  common  interest  in  these  ancient  and  cacred 
records  early  excited  their  mutual  vigilance  and  jealousy  :  and 
we  may  have  the  strongest  assurance  from  the  warm  controver- 
sies that  raged  between  them,  from  the  very  first,  respecting 
Christ  and  his  kingdom  as  the  completion  and  perfection  of  the 
Law  and  the  Prophets,  that  neither  would  have  ever  permitted 
the  Scriptures,  which  both  held  to  be  sacred,  and  which  were  the 
only  common  standard  of  appeal  amongst  them,  to  be  corrupted 
by  the  other. 


THE  AUTHORITY  OF  THE  SACRED  CANON.        187 

Eleventhly.  The  Jews  and  the  Samaritans  had  no  deahngs 
with  each  other.  From  th*  very  origin  of  the  latter,  the  former 
had  always  despised  and  hated  them.  From  both  these  we  have 
copies  of  the  Pentateuch, — which  were  all  that  the  Samaritans 
ever  received.  We  compare  them,  and  considering  the  time 
during  which  they  have  been  separately  transmitted,  they  re- 
markably agree.  And  it  is  reasonable  to  believe  that  the  rest  of 
the  books,  which  only  the  Jews  received,  have  been  transmitted 
with  equal  care  and  accuracy. 

Lastly.  We  have  numerous  manuscripts  more  or  less  ancient; 
the  ancient  paraphrases,  versions,  and  quotations,  have  descended 
to  us.  We  compare  all  these,  and  while  we  find  such  differences 
as  we  should  have  expected, — unless  we  had  supposed  a  constant 
but  needless  miracle  to  be  wrought,- — we  discover  in  fact  a  won- 
derful agreement.  From  these  we  derive  our  modern  printed 
text :  and  we  rely  upon  it,  transmitted,  and  guarded,  and  cor- 
rected by  these  multiplied  means,  if  not  as  containing  in  all 
cases  the  very  words  as  they  came  from  inspired  men  of  old,  yet 
at  least  as  faithfully  exhibiting  the  revealed  will  of  God,  and, 
with  trifling  exceptions,  in  the  very  words  of  the  Holy  Ghost. 

So  much,  my  hearers,  for  the  integrity  of  the  text  of  the  Old 
Testament.  By  parallel,  but  shorter  and  stronger  arguments,  I 
prove, 

B.   The  integrity  of  the  text  of  the  New  Testament. 

And  first^  the  copies  were  early  and  far  too  generally  diffused 
for  corruption  ever  to  have  been  possible. 

Let  it  be  remembered  that  the  books  of  the  New  Testament 
were  originally  in  the  hands  of  those  who,  for  the  most  part,  if 
not  without  exception,  had  enjoyed  amongst  them  the  ministra- 
tions of  the  Apostles.  As  these  admitted  the  authority  and 
received  the  doctrines  of  the  Apostles,  they  could  not  only  judge 
of  the  general  agreement  of  any  writing  with  those  doctrines  and 
ministrations,  but  when  such  writings  came  to  them  duly  cer- 
tified, as  the  genuine  writings  of  the  Apostles  always  did,*  they 
could  have  no  motive  to  corrupt  them,  but  would  be  prompted  by 
every  rational  and  pious  consideration  to  preserve  them.  We 
have  already  seen  that  they  were  written  in  a  language  which 
was  generally  understood ;  and  that,  from  the  desire  which 
naturally  pervaded  the  churches  to  obtain  copies  of  all  the  sacred 
writings,  they  were  early  and  rapidly  spread  through  the  then 
*  Uomp.  1  Cor.  xvi.  21.     Gal.  vi.  11.     Col.  iv.  18.     2  Thess.  iii.  17. 


188  THE  AUTHORITY  OF  THE  SACRED  CANON". 

known  world.  Wherever  Christianity  had  found  a  hold, — and 
infidelity  itself  is  compelled  to  admit  the  unparalleled  rapidity  of 
its  propagation, — there  were  more  or  less  complete  collections  of 
the  sacred  books  in  the  possession  of  the  congregations,  and  often 
of  private  individuals.  How  then  was  it  possible  to  alter  them  ? 
What  man,  or  what  body  of  men,  shall  undertake  to  collect  all 
these  copies,  and  to  induce  the  Christian  world  to  consent  to 
changes  of  their  sacred  books? — Books,  which  they  believed  to 
have  been  written  by  men  duly  approved  as  inspired  of  God,  and 
revealing  truths  on  which,  amidst  much  persecution  and  often 
the  sacrifice  of  everything  in  the  present  life,  they  reposed,  with 
strong  faith,  all  their  glorious  and  cherished  hopes  for  the  life 
which  is  to  come?  The  books  continued  to  spread,  as  Chris- 
tianity spread,  more  and  more :  and  in  every  succeeding  age  it 
became  still  more  impossible  for  evil-disposed  men,  had  they  been 
bold  enough  to  attempt  it,  to  effect  any  extensive  corruption  of 
the  sacred  text. 

Secmidly.  We  have  seen  that  a  Syriac  and,  probabl}^,  several 
Latin  versions  were  early  prepared, — the  latter  embracing  all  the 
books  and  widely  circulating  in  the  second  century,  the  former 
embracing  nearly  all  the  books,  possibly  before  the  close  of  the 
first  centur)'^,  but  according  to  the  general  opinion  early  in  the 
second.  These  were  soon  succeeded  by  others  which  circulated 
in  the  South  and  East  and  North,  but  chiefly  by  that  of  J-erome 
in  the  fourth  century,  which  extended  South  and  West,  and  finally 
obtained  an  authority  and  a  circulation  in  the  Roman  Church, 
which  has  never  been  accorded  to  any  other  translation.  Com- 
mentaries upon  the  different  books  were  early  and  greatly  multi- 
plied. Harmonies  of  the  historical  portions  were  composed  ;  hom- 
ilies were  written  and  published ;  quotations  abounded  in  almost 
every  Christian  writer,  many  of  whose  works  have  descended  to 
us  though  the  greater  part  have  perished.  How,  I  ask,  was  it 
possible  for  any  man  or  set  of  men,  proposing  to  alter  the  original 
Scriptures,  to  collect  all  these  with  the  consent  of  the  Christian 
world,  and  alter  them  so  as  to  make  them  conform  to  the  altered 
texts  ?  The  undertaking,  of  all  the  vain  things  that  vain  men 
have  imagined,  would  have  been  the  most  egregiously  monstrous, 
— the  very  idea  is  absurd  ! 

Thirdly.  Divisions  and  heresies  sprang  up  in  the  churches 
even  in  the  times  of  the  Apostles.  Whilst  they  lived,  tliey  them- 
selves and  such  of  their  writings  as  were  already  in  the  possession 


THE  AUTHORITY  OF  THE  SACRED  CANON.        189 

of  the  churches,  constituted  the  standard  of  appeal  in  every  con- 
trovers3^  When  they  were  dead  their  writings  remained  the  sole 
authoritative  standard,  to  which  all  could  appeal,  and  did  appeal, 
with  common  consent.  In  succeeding  ages  the  sects  tnultiplied 
as  the  Church  increased,  until  at  last  it  was  rent  in  twain, — which 
division  remains  to  the  present  day.  How  could  any  of  these  va- 
rious sects  succeed  in  corrupting  the  Scriptures,  without  the  speedy 
detection  of  the  rest?  And  how  could  the  consent  of  all  be  gotten 
to  alter  the  only  common  and  acknowledged  platform  of  inspired 
truth? 

Fourthly.  History  is  silent  as  to  any  such  general  corruption. 
It  brands  with  infamy  a  Marcion  who,  it  says,  rejected  most  and 
mangled  the  rest  of  the  writings  of  the  Apostles  :  but  it  says  not  a 
v;ord  of  such  a  daring  and  preposterous  attempt,  as  the  corruption 
of  all  the  copies  of  the  sacred  Scriptures.  Could  it  have  been 
done,  and  the  Christian  world  not  know  it?  Could  it  have  been 
known,  and  the  voice  of  the  Christian  Church  not  be  raised 
against  it?  Could  history  have  been  silent  here,  and  not  be  rec- 
reant to  her  duty  ?  But  she  is  silent ; — but  silent  only  because 
she  had  nothing  to  record.  The  story  that  she  tells  all  along 
concerning  the  Scriptures,  is,  that  they  were  circulated  and  used 
and  loved  in  one  form  or  another  so  greatly  and  so  universally,  that 
an  attempt  to  corrupt  or  to  destroy  them  must  have  created  a  dis- 
turbance and  clamor  in  the  Christian  world,  which  would  have 
handed  down  the  names  of  those  who  attempted  thus  to  rob  the 
Church  of  her  birthright  and  all  souls  of  their  chart  and  charter 
to  heaven,  as  impious  rebels  against  the  God  of  grace,  and  conspir- 
ators with  Satan  to  keep  the  v/orld  enveloped  in  darkness,  and 
shrouded  in  the  gloom  of  eternal  death  !  But  she  knows  and 
tells  of  no  sucli  impiety  and  madness, — and  simply  because  there 
was  none. 

Fifthly.  The  great  facts  and  doctrines,  which  were  believed 
to  be  taught  in  the  New  Testament  by  the  different  sects  in  the 
ancient  Church,  are  still  believed  to  be  taught  in  our  New  Testa- 
ment, and  are  proved  by  the  same  texts.  Some  of  these  are  the 
great  facts  and  doctrines  which  the  early  infidels  most  violently 
assailed ;  and  about  which  there  was  most  controversy  in  the 
Church.  The  passages  which  contain  them,  therefore,  are  the 
very  passages  which  there  was  most  temptation  to  alter.  But  it 
is  obvious  that  precisely  these  passages,  from  their  very  notoriety 
and  importance  to  one  or  the  other  of  the  opposing  parties,  would 


190  THE  AUTHOEITY   OF   THE   SACRED   CANON. 

be  most  securely  guarded  against  all  corruption.  The  natural 
conclusion  is,  that  the  whole  has  been  faithfully  preserved. 

Finally.  We  have  old  manuscripts  of  the  New  Testament 
that  date  back  within  a  few  centuries  of  the  Apostles ;  and  hun- 
dreds of  others  of  more  recent  date,  and  from  various  countries : 
we  have  still,  in  whole  or  in  part,  the  more  important  ancient 
versions, — the  Syriac,  the  old  Italian,  the  Coptic,  the  Sahidic,  the 
Vulgate  of  Jerome,  the  Ethiopic,  the  Gothic,  the  Armenian  and 
other  versions.  We  have  quotations  in  writers  of  every  age  and 
of  every  nation  which  Christianity  penetrated,  so  numerous,  that 
were  manuscripts  and  versions  all  gone,  we  could  easily  make  out 
from  them  alone  the  great  facts  and  doctrines  of  Christianity  held 
by  believers  in  every  generation  :  we  have  commentaries  and  har- 
monies and  homilies : — I  say,  we  have  all  these  to  compare  with 
one  another  and  with  our  received  text ;  and  the  comparison 
shows  an  agreement  amongst  them,  that  demonstrates  the  correct- 
ness of  all  our  other  arguments,  and  undeniably  proves  the  gen- 
eral integrity  of  our  New  Testament  text. 

I  return  then  to  the  affirmation,  that  of  no  books  so  ancient 
has  the  text  been  so  certainly  and  so  well  preserved,  as  that  of 
the  books  which  compose  our  Old  and  New  Testaments.  There 
are  indeed  here  and  there  passages,  and  still  oftener  clauses,  the 
integrity  of  which  there  may  be  some,  perhaps  good  reason  to 
suspect:  and  there  are  hundreds  and  thousands  of  minor  varia- 
tions brought  to  light  by  a  careful  comparison  of  manuscripts, 
versions,  and  quotations.  But  of  these  the  great  majority  do  not 
affect  the  sense  in  the  least,  and  could  not,  therefore,  be  expressed 
in  a  good  translation  :  and  where  they  do,  either  a  judicious  criti- 
cism can  determine  the  true  reading,  or  it  is  unimportant  to  the 
Christian  system,  and  generally  to  the  passage  itself,  which  of 
several  readings,  that  may  be  about  equally  sustained,  shall  be 
adopted  as  original.  The  very  means  of  multiplying  the  various 
readings,  viz.,  the  great  number  of  documents  to  be  compared, 
have  always  furnished  so  many  effectual  guards  to  prevent  cor- 
ruption of  the  text,  and  furnish  now  ample  means  for  correct- 
ing it,  where  correction  is  needed.  It  is  precisely  those  books, 
classic  as  well  as  sacred,  of  which  we  have  fewest  manuscripts 
and  other  documents,  and  consequently  comparatively  few  various 
readings,  that  the  text  is  most  liable  to  suspicion.  On  the  other 
hand,  the  text  of  those  is  most  certain  for  which  we  have  the 
greatest  number  of  documents,  especially  manuscripts,  to  com- 


THE   AUTHORITY   OF  THE  SACRED   CANON.  191 

pare,  and  consequently  the  greatest  number  of  various  readings 
actually  occurring. 

Thus  has  Providence,  by  natural  means,  and  without  a  miracle, 
preserved  the  text  of  all  the  sacred  Scriptures  :  and  it  is  vain  for 
skepticism  longer  to  hope  to  find  a  cover  for  its  unbelief  under  the 
flimsy  pretext  of  its  corruption,  either  accidental  or  designed.  The 
worst  text  that  could  be  published  on  the  authority  of  any  Manu- 
scripts, would  not  alter  a  single  phase  of  Christianity. 

I  have  now,  my  hearers,  endeavored  to  show 

I.  That  the  books  of  the  New  Testament  are  genuine. 

II.  That  the  history  contained  in  the  New  Testament  is  true. 

III.  That,  therefore,  Christ  was  Divine  and  his  Apostles  inspir- 
ed, and  consequently  our  New  Testament  was  from  God. 

IV.  That  our  Old  Testament  Canon  is  the  same  as  the  ancient 
Jewish  Canon  which  they  used  and  endorsed  ;  and  consequently 
that  this  also  was  from  God. 

V.  That  neither  the  text  of  the  Old  Testament,  nor  that  of  the 
New,  has  so  suffered  in  the  transmission  as  to  invalidate,  in  the 
slightest  degree,  their  Divine  and  binding  authority. 

If  I  have  succeeded  in  making  these  propositions  good,  then  are 
our  sacred  Scriptures  the  Word  of  God,  and  Christianity  is  Divine. 
The  argument  for  the  truth  of  Christianity  derived  from  the 
history  of  her  Sacred  Books,  let  it  be  observed,  is  in  no  manner 
affected  by  the  doubts  of  some,  in  ancient  and  modern  times,  re- 
specting the  genuineness  of  a  few  of  the  books.  We  may  give  up 
all  that  were  anciently  doubted,  and  all  which  any  now  can  with 
any  reason  regard  as  doubtful,  and  the  substance  of  Revelation 
remains  the  same.  Not  a  single  doctrine,  or  duty,  or  promise,  or 
prophecy,  or  type,  or  important  fact  would  fall  from  the  System. 
On  the  basis  of  the  books,  which  a  sober  criticism  has  always 
admitted  to  be  entirely  unquestionable,  Christianity  stands  firm 
and  complete.  To  demolish  it  infidelity  must  show,  not  that  some 
of  the  books  in  the  Sacred  Canon  have  been  and  are  doubted,  but 
that  all  the  books,  each  as  well  as  all  together,  are  forgeries  :  and 
it  then  devolves  on  her  to  write  the  history  and  explanation  of 
Christianity  as  a  great  fact  in  the  world,  running  back  through 
successive  generations  to  a  definite  period  and  a  particular  people, 
as  well  known  to  us  as  any  other  period  and  people  in  the  past ; 
as  also  ihe'history  and  explanation  of  Judaism,  the  great  foreshad- 
owing type,  reaching  far  back  into  antiquity,  confirmed  by  all  an- 
cient monuments,  and  ever  steadfastly  asserting  its  origin  from  God. 


192  THE   AUTHORITY   OF   THE   SACRED   CANON. 

Let  it  be  duly  considered  that  the  Old  Testament  was  written 
by  different  men,  during  a  period  of  about  one  thousand  years ; 
and  the  New  Testament  by  different  authors,  living  in  the  same 
age,  some  four  hundred  years  after:  and  I  think  it  will  appear, 
that  the  progressive  development  of  the  Revelation  through  so 
long  a  period,  and  b}^  the  instrumentality  of  so  nrany  men  in  suc- 
cession ;  the  unity  and  harmony  which,  notwithstanding,  runs 
through  and  binds  together  the  Avhole  ;  and  the  entire  and  pecu- 
liar correspondence  between  the  Old  Testament  and  the  New, 
forming  as  they  do,  a  completed  system  of  types  and  realities, 
prophecies  and  fulfilments,  promises  and  curses,  doctrines  and 
duties,  at  once  elevated,  sublime,  pure,  and  true  ; — all  together  con- 
stitute an  argument  for  the  Divine  origin  of  the  Christian  religion, 
as  forcible  and  convincing,  as  it  is  unique,  in  its  character.  I 
challenge  the  production  of  a  similar  phenomenon  from  the  whole 
range  of  literature  ancient  and  modern,  sacred  and  profane ;  and 
demand  a  satisfactory  solution  of  this  on  any  other  hypothesis  than 
that,  which  maintains  that  the  authors  of  these  books  wrote  by 
command  of  God,  and  as  they  were  moved  by  the  Holy  Ghost. 

I  commend  them,  therefore,  to  you  as  the  Law  and  the  Testi- 
mony of  God.  As  he  gave  them,  so  has  he  preserved  them  ;  and 
they  come  down  to  us  freighted  with  his  pure  and  precious  and 
imperishable  truths.  Their  entrance  giveth  light  and  liberty  and 
life.  They  reclaim  the  vicious,  they  establish  the  righteous  ;  they 
humble  the  proud,  they  exalt  the  meek ;  they  break  the  oppres- 
sor, they  loose  the  prisoner;  they  still  the  avenger,  they  strengthen 
the  weak.  They  chasten  mirth,  the}"^  comfort  grief;  they  en- 
lighten life,  they  conquer  death.  They  expose  our  iniquity,  and 
provide  a  ransom ;  they  reveal  God's  wrath  and  offer  his  grace. 
They  proclaim  our  ruin,  and  publish  a  Saviour;  they  warn  us  of 
hell,  and  point  us  to  heaven.  "I  testify,"  therefore,  "unto  every 
man  that  heareth  the  words  of  the  prophecy  of  this  book,  if  any 
man  shall  add  unto  these  things,  God  shall  add  unto  him  the 
plagues  that  are  written  in  this  book:  and  if  any  jnan  shall  take 
away  from  the  words  of  the  book  of  this  prophecy,  God  shall  take 
away  his  part  out  of  the  Book  of  Life,  and  out  of  the  Holy  City, 
and  out  of  the  things  which  are  written  in  this  book."  Rev. 
xxii.  18,  19. 


Clie  Cjiararter  nf  3mm  Cjirist, 


ARGUMENT  FOR  THE  DIVINE  ORIGIN  OF  CHRISTIANITY. 


EEY.    JAMES   W.  ALEXANDER,  D.D., 

NEW    YORK. 


In  a  contracted  portion  of  ancient  x4.sia,  among  a  people  seldom 
named  by  the  elegant  classics,  and  then  only  touched  by  the  sa- 
tiric thong  of  Horace  and  Juvenal,  or  the  caustic  sneer  of  Taci- 
tus ;  in  a  country  without  arts  and  refinements,  and  without 
other  letters,  certain  books  have  been  handed  down,  originating 
at  distant  epochs,  and  carefully  preserved  to  our  day.  These 
writings  are  partly  in  the  language  of  the  nation,  and  partly  in 
that  of  their  conquerors.  From  so  obscure  an  origm,  these  works 
have  spread  over  a  great  part  of  the  earth,  and  are  rapidly  pass- 
ing into  every  human  language.  Upon  inspection  they  are  found 
to  lay  claim  to  a  divine  origin;  and  this  claim  has  been  admitted, 
by  numbers  increasing  with  successive  ages.  In  support  of  these 
extraordinary  pretensions,  two  classes  of  argument  have  been 
alleged,  one  from  external  proof,  the  other  from  internal  evidences. 
Of  the  latter  there  is  one  founded  upon  the  singular  fact,  that  the 
whole  volume  of  doctrine,  opinion  and  precept,  in  these  books, 
revolves  about  the  centre  of  an  individual  personage.  Omitting 
for  the  present  all  other  points,  I  invite  you  to  consider  the  argu- 
ment in  favor  of  Christianity,  derived  from  the  character  of  Jesus 
Christ. 

My  first  proposition  is,  that  in  the  person  of  Jesus  Christ,  as 
presented  in  the  Christian  Scriptures,  we  have  a  perfect  model  of 
moral  excellence. 

The  founder  of  Christianity  stands  forth  in  a  character  abso- 
lutely original  and  unique.  The  attempt  was  never  made  to 
trace  it  to  any  foregoing  exemplar.  Neither  history  nor  fiction 
approach  to  anything  which  could  serve  even  as  the  germ  of  such 
a  description.  It  is  a  quality  to  which  justice  is  seldom  done, 
perhaps  from  our  extreme  familiarity  with  every  trait ;  but  it 
was  doubtless  felt  by  the  great  incfuirers  of  antiquity,  w4ien  first 
summoned  into  the  sublime  and  winning  presence.     There  are 


THE   CHARACTER   OF  JESUS   CHRIST. 

objects  in  nature,  which  previous  to  all  scrutiny  or  analysis,  strike 
us  with  the  impression.  This  is  unhke  all  we  ever  beheld  before. 
Such  is  the  august  personality  of  Christ,  while  as  yet  unstudied 
in  its  more  delicate  lineaments.  The  picture  is  intensely  and 
sublimely  moral.  With  a  reserve  almost  without  a  parallel,  there 
is  not  a  touch  or  color  thrown  in,  to  gratify  even  what  might  be 
considered  a  reasonable  curiosity.  Hence  there  is  not  a  syllable 
respecting  the  outward  figure,  countenance,  or  demeanor  of  our 
Lord.  Even  the  intellectual  development  is  left  under  a  veil ; 
while  the  moral  and  spiritual  representation  stands  out  with  the 
austere  simplicity  of  a  sculpture. 

Approaching  more  nearly,  we  observe  that  the  character  of 
Jesus  is  not  such  as  would  be  produced  by  what  is  called  the 
Spirit  of  the  Age.  In  the  philosophy  of  history  there  is  an  opin- 
ion, common  if  not  prevalent,  which  refers  every  commanding 
personage  to  the  necessary  progress  of  the  race.  In  the  judgment 
of  this  transcendental  school,  the  man  is  the  product  of  the  juncture, 
a  necessary  resultant  of  forces  just  concentrated  in  mature  action. 
That  Christ  is  not  such  a  character,  must  be  obvious  at  a  glance. 
It  was  not  in  subjugated,  unlettered  Judaism  to  give  birth  to  such 
an  advent.  The  effect  is  too  colossal  for  such  a  cause.  It  was 
not  even  the  felicitous  anticipation  of  an  age  about  to  dawn,  it 
is  not  the  embodied  genius  of  any  age.  The  ideal  is  one  which 
no  age  of  human  progress  has  yet  overtaken.  We  are  the  more 
surprised  and  confounded  when  we  see  its  matchless  proportions 
emerging  from  the  mists  and  corruptions  of  such  a  period  and 
such  a  nation.  I  will  go  further  and  assert  that  the  character  of 
Jesus  Christ  is  one  which  would  have  been  beyond  the  power  of 
human  conception,  before  its  actual  appearance. 

If  we  look  then  more  nearly,  and  inquire  what  accidental  at- 
tractions surround  the  portrait  here  given,  we  find  the  character 
entirely  devoid  of  the  glare  which  beams  from  outward  circum- 
stance. As  if  to  escape  every  appendage  which  belongs  to  the 
brilliant  personages  of  human  annals,  and  especially  the  subjects 
of  fiction  in  all  its  forms,  Jesus  Christ  is  represented  on  the  stage 
of  simple  and  ordinary  life.  There  is  nothing  of  secular  heroism. 
Even  the  platform  of  the  events  is  a  remote  corner  of  ancient 
civilization,  and  a  contemned  province  of  the  Empire.  The 
action,  though  often  great  and  startling,  is  within  the  circle  of 
familiar  life.  The  earthly  origin  of  our  Lord  is  obscure  and  mis- 
apprehended; and  he  walks  among  men  in  humble  garb,  as  the 


THE   CHARACTER   OF  JESUS   CHRIST.  197 

son  of  a  carpenter,  consorting  with  peasants  and  fishermen,  in  the 
most  despised  canton  of  his  native  tribes.  Without  possessions, 
without  patronage,  without  any  auxihary  of  power  or  worldly 
greatness,  he  nevertheless  shines  with  a  lustre  which  many  ages 
have  not  dimmed.  From  the  frame  of  this  lowliness,  that  coun- 
tenance of  moral  loveliness  looks  upon  us  with  a  mysterious  and 
imperative  fascination.  It  is  manifest  that  the  delineation  owes 
not  a  single  grace  to  the  external  charms.  If  we  examine  the 
progress  of  the  unvarnished  narrative,  we  detect  no  semblance  of 
display.  The  very  suspicion  of  human  glory  is  precluded  from 
every  beholder's  mind.  Except  when  some  great  misery  calls  for 
the  breaking  forth  of  hidden  power,  Christ  pursues  the  noiseless 
tenor  of  his  way  in  a  manner  so  natural  and  unobtrusive,  that 
we  almost  forget  the  public  offices  which  he  is  afterwards  seen  to 
assume.  Retirement  and  even  secrecy  cause  some  of  his  most 
wonderful  actions. 

But  coming  to  that  which  is  positive  and  essential  in  the  moral 
image  set  before  us,  we  are  arrested  by  a  trait  which  predominates 
over  all :  it  is  spotless  Innocence.  The  testimony  is  of  those  who 
knew,  that  he  was  holy,  harmless,  undefiled,  and  separate  from 
sinners.  He  could  challenge  his  most  blood-thirsty  enemies  with 
the  question.  Which  of  you  convinceth  me  of  sin  ?  He  did  no 
harm,  neither  was  guile  found  in  his  lips.  A  heavenly  candor  is 
radiated  in  every  word  and  action.  At  the  critical  point  of  his 
last  trial,  no  serious  charge  was  advanced,  and  none  whatever  of 
moral  import.  False  witnesses  were  sought  in  vain.  The  pure- 
ness  of  his  character  was  known  by  the  people,  rehearsed  by  the 
wife  of  the  procurator,  asserted  with  reiteration  by  Pilate,  avowed 
by  the  Roman  centurion  who  stood  guard  at  the  cross,  and  attest- 
ed by  the  traitor,  when  he  cried  in  the  temple,  I  have  betrayed 
the  innocent  blood.  The  enemies  of  Christianity  have  been  too 
discreet  to  allege  any  blemish  on  the  snow-white  purity  of  Jesus. 
The  virtue  is  immaculate,  and  has  borne  the  inspection  of  ages. 
This  is  the  more  deserving  of  consideration,  when  we  reflect  that 
any  age  can  discern  spots  upon  a  surface  of  alabaster ;  and  that 
one  undeniable  delinquency  in  the  character  of  our  Lord  would 
instantly  vacate  his  whole  claim  to  perfection.  But  it  has  not 
been  discovered,  and  it  is  by  an  association  common  to  all  Chris- 
tian nations  that  we  connect  with  this  impersonation  of  innocency 
the  symbols  of  the  lamb  and  the  dove. 

But  mere  innocence  may  be  tame  and  neutral,  or  it  may  be  se- 


•* 


198  THE   CHARACTER  OF   JESUS   CHRIST. 

eluded  and  exempt  from  trial.  The  heavenly  virtue  of  the  Son  of 
Man  was  not  negative :  it  broke  out  into  a  running  stream  of 
well-doing.  It  was  eminent  activity.  No  biography  in  the  world 
offers  us  a  course  of  more  ceaseless  labor ;  it  is  a  record  of  unre- 
mitting toil,  from  the  outset  of  his  ministry.  Though  he  invited 
his  disciples  to  rest,  he  took  little  for  himself;  but  lived  in  jour- 
neys, healings,  teachings,  and  throngs  of  men.  The  glory  of  the 
picture  is  that  it  is  Virtue  in  action.  As  little  was  it  a  recluse  or 
cloistered  virtue.  It  is  easy  to  be  good  in  aphorisms  and  in  the 
schools.  Jesus  gave  his  lessons  in  no  retreat  of  Speculation. 
He  philosophized  in  no  Academy,  Lyceum,  Stoa,  or  Tusculanum, 
but  in  barks,  in  peasants'  cots,  on  highways,  mountains,  beside 
wells,  and  at  tables,  among  the  hum  of  men.  As  he  taught  (and 
what  he  taught  he  practised),  he  stood  side  by  side  with  the  mass 
of  the  people  at  his  toils  and  in  his  sorrows ;  and  this,  which  adds 
to  the  difficulty  of  example,  unspeakably  enhances  its  beauty. 
The  greatest  elevation  of  positive  activity  belongs  to  the  excellence 
of  our  Lord's  character. 

We  must,  however,  contemplate  the  mode  of  this  activity  :  it 
was  more  than  all  else  Beneficence.  On  a  topic  which  you  have 
read  and  known  from  infancy,  how  can  I  enlarge  without  dis- 
paraging the  memorial  of  your  thoughts?  Yet  here  lies  the 
strength  of  our  argument;  for  here  is  infinite  benevolence,  em- 
bodied in  palpable  action.  Selfishness  had  scarcely  been  stig- 
matized by  the  moralists ;  and  they  had  spoken  of  liberality  and 
generosity  for  the  most  part  in  connection  with  human  fame. 
With  Jesus,  it  was  the  law  of  life.  The  most  summary  descrip- 
tion of  his  career  is,  that  He  went  about  doing  good.  To  give 
the  proofs  of  his  love  would  be  to  read  you  the  four  Gospels. 
The  bodies  and  the  souls  of  men  were  both  his  care.  With 
equal  sincerity  of  heart  he  spoke  often  and  long  to  the  multitude, 
or  aided  in  the  handicraft  of  his  disciples,  or  hung  over  the  bier 
of  the  departed.  Are  any  of  his  wonders  acts  of  vengeance? 
Is  there  one  of  them  which  was  not  a  burst  of  mercy  ?  When 
was  his  hand  ever  lifted  in  anger?  When  did  his  countenance 
ever  wear  a  scowl?  What  single  sufferer  did  he  ever  thrust 
away  ?  When  crowds  hemmed  him  in,  some  to  perplex,  some  to 
deride,  and  some  to  murder,  did  he  ever  decline  to  teach  the  in 
quiring?  Who  among  us  can  number  his  benefactions?  What 
book  can  contain  the  history  of  his  cures?  While  he  healed,  he 
preached  ;  yea,  while  he  gcve  truth,  he  gave  hfe,  health,  salvation. 


THE   CHARACTER   OF  JESUS    CHRIST.  199 

How  prompt  was  his  beneficence.  My  son  dieth,  said  a  certain 
nobleman.  Jesus  saith  unto  him,  Go  thy  way,  thy  son  Uveth. 
As  Love  was  his  great,  his  new,  his  last  injunction  to  his  disciples, 
so  it  was  the  reigning  grace  in  his  treatment  of  them  ;  the  very 
inspiration  of  his  farewell  discourse,  and  the  crowning  charac- 
teristic of  his  conversations  after  being  restored  to  them.  Love 
actuated  his  itinerancy,  on  foot,  over  the  rough  hills  and  torrid 
plains  of  Palestine,  and  flowed  out  to  the  poor  and  the  dying  in 
streams  of  relief.  It  was  love  that  was  personified  and  held  up 
to  the  view  of  angels  and  of  God  on  that  "place  of  skulls"  and 
that  cursed  cross.  All  human  writings  afford  no  such  examples 
of  beneficence. 

But  even  benevolence  has  its  modifications :  that  of  Christ 
was  displayed  in  singular  tenderness  and  compassion.  He 
taught  to  rejoice  with  them  that  do  rejoice  and  weep  with  them 
that  weep.  Infinitely  was  he  distant  from  the  affected  apathy  of 
the  Stoics.  He  was  a  son  of  woman  ;  and  how  much  of  tender 
manhood,  of  social,  of  strictly  human  affection,  gushes  forth  in 
all  the  interviews  with  the  family  at  Bethany,  his  sadness  con- 
cerning Lazarus,  his  condolence,  his  tears — for  "Jesus  wept." 
How  he  hangs  over  lepers,  cripples,  blind  men,  lunatics  and  im- 
potent wretches  !  Behold  him  at  Nain,  at  Bethesda,  at  the  Last 
Supper,  and  acknowledge  not  merely  the  good-will  which  relieves, 
but  the  most  refined  grace  in  the  manner  of  relieving.  So  much 
of  the  mother  and  the  sister,  would  in  the  hands  of  fictitious 
genius  have  degenerated  into  the  soft,  the  timorous,  and  the 
effeminate ;  but  the  divine  pencil  does  not  thus  depict.  By  the 
most  happy  blending  of  opposites,  we  observe  in  the  same  subject 
the  union  of  gentleness  and  force. 

There  is  a  tendency  to  overrate  what  are  called  the  masculine 
qualities  of  our  nature ;  hence  the  overstrained  effort  and  unnatu- 
ral paroxysms  of  epic  heroes,  and  many  real  soldiers.  The  great 
forces  which  perform  their  part  in  the  heavenly  spaces  are  silent. 
Such  also  is  the  usual  state  of  true  greatness.  Our  Lord's  was 
such ;  he  did  not  cry  nor  lift  up  nor  cause  his  voice  to  be  heard  in 
the  streets.  Yet  there  was  a  reserve  of  energy,  zeal  and  holy 
boldness,  which  on  rare  but  fit  occasions  could  flash  from  the  inner 
sanctuary  of  his  mysterious  nature.  We  see  almost  with  surprise 
the  same  arm  which  lifted  up  the  sinking  disciple  scourging  the 
money-changers  in  the  temple.  The  same  voice  which  breathed 
benediction  on  the  poor  and  simple,  is  heard  uttering  woes  against 


200  THE  CHARACTER  OF   JESUS  CHRIST. 

proud  learning  and  hypocritical  pretension,  and  this  in  the  face  of 
threats.  It  was  to  the  great  and  powerful  of  his  day  that  Christ 
said,  O  generation  of  vipers — Woe  unto  you  scrihes  and  Pharisees  ! 
It  was  to  a  prince  on  the  throne  that  he  sent,  saying,  Go  ye  and 
tell  that  fox, — Behold  I  cast  out  devils,  and  I  do  cures  to-day  and 
to-morrow,  and  the  third  day  I  shall  be  perfected.  Intrepidity  is 
requisite  for  the  publication  of  unwelcome  truth ;  and  our  Saviour 
sometimes  so  spake,  that  not  only  were  his  adversaries  filled  with 
rage,  but  "many  of  his  disciples  went  back,  and  walked  no  more 
with  him."  Under  his  piercing  discriminations  and  high  claims, 
the  Jews  were  indignant  and  even  frantic,  so  that  not  content 
with  reviling,  they  sought  to  kill  him  on  the  spot,  and  failing  of 
this,  obtained  their  hellish  purpose  in  a  more  circuitous  manner. 
Yet  our  Lord  went  calmly  on.  as  wonderful  in  his  courage  as  his 
love. 

Though  the  topic  assigned  debars  me  from  exhibiting  Christ's 
code  of  morals,  as  such,  I  am  bound  to  allude  to  one  of  its  qualities, 
as  connected  with  his  life.  No  ethical  system  was  ever  so  severe, 
searching,  and  spiritual.  He  denounced  the  inward  thought  of 
evil.  He  pointed  to  anger  as  inchoate  murder ;  to  the  two  mites 
as  outweighing  all  the  donations  of  the  rich  ;  and  the  ejaculation 
of  the  publican  as  heard  beyond  the  longest  prayers.  He  exposed 
the  reigning  righteousness  of  the  most  learned  and  sacred  clergy 
as  whited  sepulchres  and  washed  putrefaction.  He  claimed  the 
supreme  love  of  God  and  the  entire  denial  of  self.  Such  was  the 
sternness  of  his  ethical  demands.  Now  the  point  to  which  I  in- 
vite your  attention  is  this,  that  when  our  Lord  comes  to  treat 
with  the  person  of  offenders,  there  never  was  judge  so  benign  and 
lenient.  To  the  Samaritan  adultress  he  makes  the  most  explicit 
avowal  of  his  mission,  amidst  the  gentlest  offers  of  forgiveness. 
To  another  offender,  dragged  into  his  presence  by  pharisaic  cen- 
sors, he  breathes  the  word  of  clemency,  Woman  .  .  .  hath  no 
man  condemned  thee?  .  .  .  Neither  do  I  condemn  thee:  go,  sin 
no  more  !  To  the  bosom  friend  who  shamefully  denied  him,  he 
gives  no  reproof,  but  the  question,  Simon,  son  of  Jonas,  lovest 
thou  me?  more  than  these?  Ah,  my  brethren,  how  few  of  us 
who  claim  to  be  disciples,  have  been  able  thus  to  mingle  hatred 
of  the  sin,  with  benignity  towards  the  sinner? 

It  should  be  carefully  noted  by  those  who  sometimes  quote  our 
Master  against  all  outward  observances  of  religion,  that  he  was 
as  remarkable  for  his  observance  of  religious  rites  as  for  the  ab- 


THE   CHARACTER   OF  JESUS   CHRIST.  201 

sence  of  all  superstition  or  formality.  To  the  established  usages 
of  the  Hebrew  ritual,  both  in  the  temple  and  the  synagogue,  he 
.endered  punctual  regard.  Again  and  again  his  voice  was  lifted 
up  in  social  prayer.  He  rises  a  great  while  before  day  for  solitary 
devotion.  He  withdraws  himself  into  the  wilderness  to  converse 
with  God.  He  continues  all  night  in  prayer  to  God.  At  his 
baptism,  his  transfiguration,  his  agony,  and  on  the  cross,  he 
prays. 

Now  while  thus  devout,  Jesus  treats  with  disgust  all  the  will- 
worship  which  passed  in  that  day  for  religion.  Witness  the  whole 
sermon  on  the  Mount ;  the  discourse  respecting  spiritual  worship 
with  the  woman  of  Samaria ;  the  unshackled  converse  with  pub- 
licans and  sinners ;  the  bold  refusal  of  fasts  and  washings  and 
sabbatic  extremes  and  uncommanded  austerities.  The  voices  of 
the  populace  tell  us,  as  in  echo,  how  he  towered  above  all  super- 
stition, which  was  really  the  religion  of  the  world  at  that  day. 
"Why  eateth  your  Master  with  publicans  and  sinners?  Behold, 
why  do  they  on  the  Sabbath  that  which  is  not  lawful?  Why  .  .  . 
eat  bread  with  unwashen  hands?  Behold  a  man  gluttonous,  and 
a  wine-bibber,  a  friend  of  publicans  and  sinners  !"  While  there 
never  was  a  moral  teacher  so  full  of  true  devotion,  there  never 
was  one  so  remote  from  all  that  is  ascetic.  The  element  of  pen- 
ance and  self-torture  is  absent  from  the  New  Testament  and  its 
Great  Subject.  And  this  is  a  leading  charm  in  this  model  of  hu- 
manity. 

In  common  instances  of  virtue,  Ave  find  gentleness  and  humility 
incompatible  with  decision,  persistency  and  command  :  but  not  so 
with  Christ.  He  is  of  all  beings  the  most  accessible.  In  no  case 
does  he  manifest  repulsion  or  undue  reserve.  His  ear  is  open  to 
the  meanest  and  most  misguided.  The  cases  are  too  numerous 
for  detail;  from  the  time  when,  by  Jordan,  he  turns  to  the  two 
who  follow  him,  saying,  "  Come  and  see,"  to  the  moment  when  he 
walks  to  Emmaus  with  Cleopas  and  his  fellow.  And  as  it  regards 
Humility,  a  virtue  missing  in  every  pagan  catalogue,  he  was  its 
first  teacher  and  example.  For  his  mightiest  deeds  he  sought  no 
publicity,  but  repressed  it  by  command.  "  See,  thou  say  nothing 
to  any  man."  "  All  men,"  said  some,  "  seek  for  thee ;"  but  he 
goes  away  to  his  work.  "  The  Son  of  Man  came  not  to  be  min- 
istered unto,  but  to  minister."  "I  am  among  you  as  he  that 
serveth."  In  his  only  progress  of  seeming  triumph,  he  enters  Je- 
rusalem on  the  lowliest  of  beasts ;  and  shortly  after,  we  see  him 


202  THE   CHARACTER   OP  JESUS  CHRIST. 

stooping  to  wash  his  disciples'  feet.  Couple  with  this  the  traits 
of  dignity  and  imperative  sovereignty,  and  the  result  is  amazing. 
There  occurs  no  moment  of  misgiving  or  weakness.  From  the 
very  beginning  his  eye  is  fixed  on  certainty  of  success.  In  no 
instance  does  he  seek  for  aid  or  counsel.  His  plan  is  mature  and 
unwavering,  and  looks  to  the  spiritual  conquest  of  the  world,  an 
idea  too  grand  for  the  most  soaring  philosophy. 

Let  me  ask  you  to  contemplate  our  Lord's  contempt  of  what 
worldly  men  salute  as  greatness,  in  connection  with  his  con- 
descension to  the  despised.  If  there  were  any  to  whom  the  edge 
of  his  censures  were  more  keenly  turned,  it  was  the  aspiring,  the 
rich,  the  learned,  and  the  great.  It  is  the  rich  man,  promising 
himself  ease  and  pleasure,  Avhom  he  denounces  as  a  fool ;  it  is 
the  dying  beggar  whom  he  transports  to  heaven.  Among  the 
beatitudes  the  leading  welcome  is  to  the  poor,  while  the  camel 
and  the  needle's  eye  furnish  the  symbol  of  the  rich.  There  is 
not  an  approach  to  any  courting  of  men  in  power,  even  for  the 
best  ends,  but  Jesus  is  eminently  and  beyond  example  the  friend 
of  the  people.  Among  them  were  his  cherished  friends  ;  for 
never  was  falsehood  more  glaring  than  that  which  erases  Friend- 
ship from  the  virtues  of  our  Redeemer.  Over  the  humiliations 
of  his  country  he  sighed  ;  for  equally  unjust  is  the  assumption 
that  Christianity  repudiates  Patriotism.  The  ordinary  griefs  of 
mankind  moved  his  heart.  He  had  compassion  on  the  hunger- 
ing thousands,  as  on  slieep  without  a  shepherd.  In  every  part 
of  the  land  he  was  the  instructor  of  the  populace.  Over  the 
city  where  his  blood  was  to  be  shed,  he  wept,  saying.  If  thou 
hadst  known !  And  at  another  time,  O  Jerusalem,  Jerusalem, 
how  often  would  I  have  gathered  thy  children  together,  as  a  hen 
doth  gather  her  brood  under  her  wings,  and  ye  would  not ! 

Joined  with  this  love  of  his  people,  and  the  race,  was  a  quality 
which  merits  our  closest  attention.  The  cry  of  patriotism  some- 
times proceeds  from  fanaticism  and  faction,  and  under  the  colors 
of  philanthropy  we  have  sometimes  discerned  the  torch  and 
.sword.  The  benevolence  of  Christ  stands  free  from  all  taint  of 
what  is  revolutionary.  A  single  gesture  would  have  raised  that 
whole  nation  against  the  Roman ;  but  he  uttered  no  breath 
against  the  government.  The  attempt  was  made  to  entrap  him, 
as  when  they  brought  him  the  denarius,  but  his  language  was, 
"Render  therefore  unto  Caesar  the  things  which  be  Caesar's,  and 
unto  God  the  ihiugs  which  be  God's."     He  refused  to  be  a  judge  or 


THE   CHARACTER   OF  JESUS  CHRIST.  203 

a  divider.  He  retired  from  the  multitude  who  would  have  hurried 
him  to  a  throne.  His  king^dom,  as  he  declared  before  the  repre- 
sentative of  Rome,  w^as  not  of  this  world. 

In  regard  to  worldly  training,  Jesus  of  Nazareth  belonged  to 
the  unlettered  peasantry  of  a  land  whose  only  erudition  at  best 
was  in  their  religious  books.  Hence  the  people  exclaitned,  How 
knoweth  this  man  letters,  having  never  learned?  Yet  with 
what  authority  did  he  speak,  and  how  did  thousands  of  Israel 
hang  on  the  oracles  of  life !  Never  man  spake  like  this  man  ! 
Undisciplined  in  any  school  of  philosophy  he  uttered  a  wisdom 
which  has  penetrated  all  nations  and  revolutionized  the  world. 
The  striking  instances  occur  to  your  memory  in  which  amidst  the 
craftiest  attempts  to  inveigle  him  into  contradiction,  he  escaped 
by  a  divine  skill,  without  perplexity,  without  hesitation,  and  with- 
out an  effort.  This  constellation  of  excellencies,  intellectual  and 
moral,  has  justly  excited  the  wonder  of  all  observers. 

But  there  remains  a  crowning  glory  :  this  virtue  was  tried  by 
suffering.  The  heathen  were  accustomed  to  say  that  a  good  man 
struggling  with  misfortune  was  a  sight  worthy  of  the  gods.  There 
never  were  such  sufferings  as  those  of  Christ ;  ending  in  a  death 
of  ignominy,  anguish  and  desertion,  which  is  the  holiest  theme  of 
our  religion,  while  it  is  too  familiar  to  your  thoughts  to  need  reci- 
tal. It  was  under  the  pressure  of  pain,  ingratitude,  injury  and 
insult,  that  a  train  of  moral  graces  came  into  view,  which  but  for 
this  trial  would  have  been  unknown,  and  which  have  no  parallel 
in  Gentile  ethics.  He  is  seized  by  night,  and  hurried  from  his 
devotions,  to  be  mocked  at  three  several  tribunals,  arrayed  in  garb 
of  shame,  smitten,  buffeted,  spit  upon,  calumniated,  scourged,  and 
hung  between  robbers  and  murderers  in  the  most  disgraceful  death 
then  known.  In  all  this  series  of  mortifications  and  insults  he  is 
sublimely  silent  ;  never  opening  his  lips  in  answer  to  the  accu- 
sations, until  he  utters  a  claim  which  seals  his  condemnation. 
And  when  his  brow  is  pale  in  death,  his  only  language  concerning 
his  murderers  is,  Father,  forgive  them,  for  they  know  not  what 
they  do  ! 

But  here  I  awake  to  the  presumption  of  an  attempt  to  reduce 
the  lineaments  of  such  a  portrait,  and  throw  aside  the  pencil  in 
despair.  If  you  would  have  it  in  its  proper  colors  of  Divinity,  go 
to  the  narrative  of  the  Gospels.  It  is  no  small  argument  for  the 
excellence  of  the  writings,  that  all  the  grandeur  of  this  image  is 
conveyed  by  simple  history.     These  traits  reveal  themselves  in 


204  THE  CHARACTER   OF   JESUS  CHRIST. 

life  and  action  ;  without  eulogium,  without  reasoning  on  the  case, 
and  without  summing  up  of  the  principles. 

Of  this  character,  then,  I  may  safely  say,  produce  any  parallel. 
If  the  literature  of  centuries  has  given  any  equal  personification  of 
wisdom  and  goodness,  let  it  be  made  to  appear.  Even  with  this 
model  before  the  eye  for  ages,  what  approach  has  been  made  to  a 
similar,  not  to  say  a  superior,  ideal? 

The  character  of  Jesus  Christ  satisfies  every  demand  of  our 
moral  nature.  Important  as  external  testimony  is  in  its  place 
and  for  other  ends,  here  is  a  point  where  we  require  no  external 
testimony.  The  moral  glory  of  such  a  character  shines  by  its 
own  self-evidencing  light.  Here  there  is  an  analogy  between 
moral  conclusions  and  judgments  of  taste.  Whatever  share  the 
understanding  may  have  in  adjusting  and  presenting  the  object, 
the  inward  faculty  judges  immediately.  Whatever  the  beautiful 
object  may  be,  a  rose,  a  Parthenon,  or  a  faultless  human  counte- 
nance, our  inward  approbation  is  immediate.  Nor  are  our  moral 
judgments  less  direct.  Here  we  apply,  not  bare  logic,  but  the  de- 
terminations of  intuitive  reason,  the  utterances  of  our  sublimest 
instincts,  promptly  and  unhesitatingly  accepting  a  given  character 
as  good  or  evil.  It  is  on  these  grounds  that  we  yield  our  love, 
upon  the  perception  of  excellence,  in  all  the  tenderest  relations  of 
life.  And  the  decision  is  all  the  stronger,  quicker,  and  less  fal- 
lible, in  proportion  to  the  exquisite  harmony  and  united  perfection 
of  the  object,  as  light  is  most  undeniable  in  the  effulgence  of  the 
sun.  The  Lord  Jesus  Christ  commands  our  assent,  and  over- 
whelms lis  into  admiration.  Here  is  the  great  argument,  which 
has  carried  the  citadel  of  a  thousand  unlettered  hearts,  while 
neither  they  nor  we  can  fully  translate  it  into  the  terms  of  cold 
logic.  So  viewed,  the  representation  of  Christ  in  the  New  Testa- 
ment is  the  greatest  moral  lesson  ever  given  to  mankind,  infinitely 
surpassing  all  the  ratiocinations  of  the  schools  and  all  the  systema- 
tized precepts  of  ethics  ;  being  virtue  reduced  to  the  form  of  tan- 
gible action,  and  offered  to  us  with  the  reality  of  life.  I  trust, 
therefore,  I  may  regard  the  position  as  maintained,  that  in  the 
person  of  Jesus  Christ,  as  presented  in  the  Christian  Scriptures, 
we  have  a  perfect  model  of  moral  excellence. 

My  second  proposition  is,  that  this  character  thus  portrayed,  is 
not  the  result  of  weakness,  enthusiasm  or  imposture. 

Viewed  simply  as  an  effort  of  the  human  understanding,  a 
representation  like  this  is  infinitely  beyond  the  reach  of  imbecility 


THE   CHARACTER   OF  JESUS   CHRIST.  205 

and  ignorance.  We  will  boldly  claim  for  high  moral  achieve- 
ment the  greatest  intellectual  powers.  A  perfect  character  is  the 
best  and  choicest  product  of  constructive  skill.  No  architectural 
or  mechanic  wonder  shall  ever  demand  a  nobler  faculty.  The 
depiction  of  elevated  and  consistent  character  has  been  in  every 
age  of  literature,  a  favorite  but  difficult  task  of  genius.  But 
when  the  ideal  assumes  to  be  morally  perfect,  what  shall  we  say 
of  the  ability  required?  Who  has  accomplished  it,  or  even  ap- 
proached it  7  Look  closely  at  the  harmonious  and  immaculate 
whole,  and  then  at  the  age,  the  nation,  and  the  untutored  evan- 
gelists, and  say,  can  such  an  effect  spring  from  the  inventions  of 
ignorance  and  folly  ?  The  argument,  though  simple  and  needing 
little  development,  is  irresistible ;  that  sublime  personage  was 
never  the  imagination  of  feeble  minds. 

If  it  be  argued  that  even  genius  is  sometimes  overmastered  by 
morbid  excitements,  I  reply,  it  is  inconceivable  that  this  portrait 
should  have  proceeded  from  enthusiasm.  As  if  to  give  the  lie  to 
such  a  charge,  every  page  exhibits  a  simplicity  without  example 
in  other  annals.  It  is  fragmentary,  and  devoid  of  that  rotun- 
dity and  glow  which  belong  to  the  works  of  heat  and  fusion. 
The  manner  of  the  biography  is  as  surprising  as  its  contents. 
The  most  odious  assaults  on  the  chief  personage  are  related  with 
coolness.  The  most  astonishing  acts  of  power  and  marvels  of 
endurance,  humility  and  meekness  are  related  without  a  syllable 
of  praise.  There  is  not  a  word  of  panegyric,  and  scarcely  a 
word  of  comment.  The  vastness  and  awfulness  of  the  matter 
stand  in  contrast  with  the  strongest  equanimity  and  reserve  in  the 
expression.  Whatever  else  this  may  prove,  it  demonstrates  that 
the  writers  were  neither  enthusiasts  nor  fanatics.  Had  they  been 
such,  it  would  have  somewhere  distorted  and  exaggerated  the 
teaching,  somewhere  cast  a  sinister  expression  or  lurid  glare  on 
the  divine  countenance,  or  somewhere  blazed  forth  in  language 
of  intemperance  and  fury.  If  the  terms  can  be  used  without 
misapprehension,  I  would  say  of  the  gospel  history,  that  it  is  un- 
rivalled in  common  sense,  well-balanced  narrative,  and  sound 
judgment.  As  the  character  represented  rises  high  above  all 
mists  of  vagary,  so  the  representation  itself  repels  the  thought 
of  enthusiastic  excess. 

Seeing  then  that  weakness  and  enthusiasm  are  excluded,  we 
are  shut  up  (unless  we  admit  the  narrative),  to  the  hypothesis 
of  imposture.     The  argument  will  then  run  thus:  no  such  events 


206  THE   CHARACTER   OF  JESUS   CHRIST. 

ever  occurred  ;  the  character  is  an  ingenious  fiction.  Violent  as 
is  this  supposition,  it  has  had  defenders.  The  difficulty  should 
be  inextricable  from  which  a  reason er  would  leap  into  such  an  ex- 
planation. The  fraraers  of  this  splendid  figment  must  have  been 
either  good  men,  or  bad :  in  neither  case  could  the  result  have 
taken  place.  No  good  man  could  lend  himself  to  so  gigantic  a 
falsehood  ;  for  that  the  narrative  was  meant  to  be  credited,  that 
it  lays  blood  at  the  doors  of  a  nation,  that  it  involves  the  dearest 
interests  of  myriads,  and  that  it  was  actually  believed  as  true 
from  the  very  date  of  its  appearance,  are  particulars  which  no 
sane  mind  ever  doubted.  Of  all  pretensions,  the  most  incredible 
is  that  the  history  of  Jesus  Christ  was  invented  by  virtuous  men. 

But  we  find  as  little  relief  in  ascribing  the  forgery  to  bad  men : 
for  bad  men  could  neither  conceive  the  character,  nor  alight  on  a 
motive  for  depicting  it.  Bad  men  could  not  conceive  the  char- 
acter. Shall  I  descend  to  argue  this  in  detail?  Is  human 
nature  reduced  to  this,  that  for  the  only  consummate  image  of 
virtue  we  are  indebted  to  the  fabrication  of  impostors  ?  Could 
the  sublime  ideal,  at  which  we  have  taken  a  distant  glance,  be 
the  offspring  of  corruption  and  vice  ?  The  thought  transcends 
all  powers  of  credulity,  and  may  be  rejected  with  summary  con- 
tempt. 

As  undeniably,  bad  men  would  have  no  motive  for  such  a  rep- 
resentation. So  costly  an  invention  demands  a  sufficient  reason. 
Vice  was  never  yet  its  own  reprover.  Every  lineament  of  this 
celestial  countenance  would  have  frowned  on  the  attempt.  Every 
light  and  shade  of  the  picture  goes  to  promote  a  virtue  which 
must  be  hateful  to  the  false  and  malignant.  The  life,  the  les- 
sons, the  death,  of  Jesus  Christ  were  never  given  to  the  world  by 
wicked  men.  We  are  driven  by  irresistible  stress  of  conviction 
to  the  judgment,  that  those  who  have  left  us  this  narrative  were 
simple  and  honest  men,  and  that  they  believed  what  they 
related. 

The  more  profoundly  we  examine  the  case,  the  fuller  must  be 
our  persuasion,  either  that  the  record  of  facts  is  true,  or  that 
Christ  himself  is  the  impostor.  From  the  latter  alternative  of 
the  dilemma,  every  virtuous  mind  starts  back  with  horror.  To 
state  it,  is  to  present  its  confutation.  V^hat  remains  but  that 
from  difficulties,  enigmas  and  absurdities,  so  varied  and  inevitable, 
we  return  to  the  solid  ground  of  truth,  and  admit,  as  the  easiest 


THE   CHARACTER   OF  JESUS   CHRIST.       .  207 

and  only  solution,  that  the  events  recorded  are  matter  of  actual 
history  ? 

Having  attained  to  such  a  conclusion,  we  find  it  corroborated 
from  another  quarter.  The  character  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  in 
the  New  Testament  presents  internal  evidence  of  actuality.  It 
is  not  a  vision  or  a  fancy,  but  a  real  existence.  There  are  repre- 
sentations in  the  guise  of  history  which  betray  themselves  to  be 
fictitious.  There  are  narratives  and  characters,  of  which  we  sa}^, 
This  must  have  been  matter-of-fact.  In  some  of  these  cases  there 
is  room  for  mistake,  but  in  all  the  evidence  is  internal,  and  that 
evidence  may  rise  so  high  as  to  remove  all  doubt.  If  ever  there 
was  such  a  case,  it  is  the  one  before  us.  The  most  powerful 
demonstration  that  Jesus  is  a  real  person,  is  that  which  we  receive 
when  the  book  is  open  before  us.  Nor  is  this  wonderful,  when  we 
consider  that  there  are  laws  of  sequence  and  harmony,  even  in 
the  animal  creation,  which  enable  the  eye  of  science  to  decide 
that  this  is  a  genuine  remnant  of  a  once  living  structure,  though 
in  a  fossil  of  ages ;  and  that  a  fabulous  or  factitious  aggregation 
of  discordant  parts.  Such  sequence  and  such  law  there  are  also 
in  moral  action  and  in  character.  Their  very  nature,  as  indicated 
not  by  parts  but  by  the  whole,  not  by  fragment  but  by  harmony, 
not  by  isolated  specimens  but  by  the  type  of  unity,  forbid  detail 
or  example.  For  ages,  impartial  readers  have  rested  in  the  con- 
clusion, This  inimitable  character  actually  lived  and  died  on 
earth. 

Before  leaving  the  contemplation  of  our  principal  object,  let  me 
add,  that  the  character  of  Christ  has  commanded  the  respect  even 
of  enemies.  Among  many  testimonies  which  might  be  adduced, 
it  will  be  sufficient  to  cite  that  of  the  infidel  philosopher  Rous- 
seau. 

"I  will  confess  to  you,"  says  he,  "that  the  majesty  of  the 
Scriptures  strikes  me  with  admiration,  as  the  purity  of  the  gospel 
has  its  influence  on  my  heart.  Peruse  the  works  of  our  philoso- 
phers, with  all  their  pomp  of  diction :  how  mean,  how  contempti- 
ble are  they,  compared  with  the  Scriptures  !  Is  it  possible  that 
a  book,  at  once  so  simple  and  so  sublime,  should  be  merely  the 
work  of  a  man?  Is  it  possible,  that  the  sacred  Personage,  whose 
history  it  contains,  should  be  himself  a  mere  man  ?  Do  we  find 
that  he  assumed  the  tone  of  an  enthusiast  or  ambitious  sectary? 
What  sweetness,  what  purity  in  his  manner!  What  an  affecting 
gracefulness  in  his  delivery !     What  sublimity  in  his  maxims ! 


208  -         THE   CHARACTER   OF  jEStJS   CHRIST. 

What  profound  wisdom  in  iiis  discourses  !  What  presence  of  mind, 
what  subtlety,  what  truth  in  his  rephes  !  How  great  the  command 
over  his  passions  !  Where  is  the  man,  where  the  philosopher, 
who  could  so  hve  and  so  die,  without  weakness  and  without 
ostentation  ?  When  Plato  describes  his  imaginary  good  man, 
loaded  with  all  the  punishments  of  guilt,  yet  meriting  the  highest 
rewards  of  virtue,  he  describes  exactly  the  character  of  Jesus 
Christ :  the  resemblance  was  so  striking  that  all  the  fathers  per- 
ceived it.  What  prepossession,  what  blindness  must  it  be,  to 
compare  the  son  of  Sophroniscus  to  the  son  of  Mary  !  What  an 
infinite  disproportion  there  is  between  them  !  Socrates,  dying 
without  pain  or  ignominy,  easily  supported  his  character  to  the 
last ;  and  if  his  death,  however  easy,  had  not  crowned  his  life,  it 
might  have  been  doubted  whether  Socrates,  with  all  his  wisdom, 
was  anything  more  than  a  mere  sophist.  He  invented,  it  is  said, 
the  theory  of  morals.  Others,  however,  had  before  put  them  into 
practice ;  he  had  only  to  say,  therefore,  what  they  had  done,  and 
to  reduce  their  examples  to  precepts.  Aristides  had  been  just,  be- 
fore Socrates  defined  justice ;  Leonidas  had  given  up  his  life  for 
his  country,  before  Socrates  declared  patriotism  to  be  a  duty. 
The  Spartans  were  a  sober  people  before  Socrates  recommended 
sobriety.  Before  he  had  even  defined  virtue,  Greece  abounded  in 
virtuous  men.  But  where  could  Jesus  learn,  among  his  contem- 
poraries, that  pure  and  sublime  morality,  of  which  he  only  has 
given  us  both  precept  and  example  ?  The  greatest  wisdom  was 
made  known  among  the  most  bigoted  fanaticism,  and  the  sim- 
plicity of  the  most  heroic  virtues  did  honor  to  the  vilest  people  on 
earth.  The  death  of  Socrates,  peacefully  philosophizing  among 
friends,  appears  the  most  agreeable  that  one  could  wish  :  that  of 
Jesus,  expiring  in  agonies,  abused,  insulted,  and  accused  by  a 
whole  nation,  is  the  most  horrible  that  one  could  fear.  Socrates, 
indeed,  in  receiving  the  cup  of  poison,  blessed  the  weeping  execu- 
tioner who  administered  it ;  but  Jesus,  amidst  excruciating  tor- 
tures, prayed  for  his  merciless  tormentors.  Yes,  if  the  life  and 
death  of  Socrates  were  those  of  a  sage,  the  life  and  death  of 
Jesus  are  those  of  a  God.  Shall  we  suppose  the  evangelical  his- 
tory a  mere  fiction  ?  Indeed,  my  friend,  it  bears  no  marks  of 
fiction.  On  the  contrary,  the  history  of  Socrates,  which  no  one 
presumes  to  doubt,  is  not  so  well  attested  as  that  of  Jesus  Christ. 
Such  a  supposition,  in  fact,  only  shifts  the  diflficulty  without  obvi- 
ating it :  it  is  more  inconceivable  that  a  number  of  persons  should 


THE   CHARACTEB  OF  JESUS   CHRIST.  209 

agree  to  write  such  a  history,  than  that  one  should  furnish  the 
subject  of  it.  The  Jewish  authors  were  incapable  of  the  diction, 
and  strangers  to  the  morality  contained  in  the  gospel ;  the  marks 
of  whose  truth  are  so  striking  and  inimitable,  that  the  inventor 
would  be  a  more  astonishing  character  than  the  hero." 

My  third  proposition  is,  that  consequently,  the  claims  set  up  by 
Jesus  Christ  are  worthy  of  our  implicit  credence. 

It  is  an  inconvenience  growing  out  of  the  limited  field  assigned 
to  me,  that  it  is  continually  trenching  upon  the  domain  of  other 
evidences.  The  claims  of  Jesus  Christ  rest  on  other  proofs,  the 
supernatural  signatures  of  his  divine  legation.  But  even  before 
a  witness  or  a  claimant  opens  his  lips  or  breaks  the  seal  of  his 
certificate,  we  may  have  an  antecedent  presumption  in  his  favor. 
We  may  find  it  in  his  reputation,  his  manner,  his  very  count- 
enance. The  claims  and  assumptions  of  a  great  and  good  man 
differ  from  all  other  claims,  and  are  allowed  as  soon  as  they  are 
stated.  This  is  however  the  very  lowest  ground  which  I  will  take, 
namely,  that  the  perfection  of  Christ's  character,  as  appearing  in 
the  record,  affords  precedent  reason  for  crediting  his  testimony. 
From  this  humble  step  in  the  flight  of  arguments,  I  proceed  to 
assert,  that  our  foregoing  conclusions  force  us  to  admit  the  claims 
set  up  for  himself  by  this  extraordinary  Person.  So  sure  as  perfect 
truth  cannot  lie,  or  spotless  innocency  be  malignant,  or  infinite 
benevolence  break  forth  in  ruinous  imposture,  so  surely  the  de- 
mands of  our  Lord  Jesus  are  entitled  to  our  implicit  credence.  But 
here  again  I  necessarily  draw  near  a  subject  which  will  be  ably 
treated  by  other  hands,  and  which  I  dare  only  touch  for  an  in- 
stant. In  all  our  previous  argument,  we  have  viewed  the  char- 
acter of  Jesus  in  its  bare  humanity;  we  have  from  the  law  of 
the  reasoning  abstracted  this  from  all  that  was  supernatural  and 
all  that  was  divine.  Yet  having  established  the  reality  and  the 
perfectness  of  Christ's  character,  we  cannot  proceed  to  the  claim 
founded  on  this,  without  including  that  mysterious  element.  Al- 
ways remembering  that  from  these  lips,  thus  endeared  to  us, 
nothing  but  infinite  truth  can  drop,  let  us  inquire  what  are  the 
particular  claims  set  up  by  the  Redeemer.  These  may  be  men- 
tioned, though  they  cannot  be  discussed.  Among  them  are  these: 
Jesus  Christ  claimed  to  be  a  perfectly  immaculate  being ;  to  be  a 
teacher  sent  from  God ;  to  have  the  authentication  of  his  mission 
in  wonders  of  supernatural  power ;  to  be  the  subject  of  prophecies 
uttered  during  many  ages ;  to  be  the  Messiah  of  the  old  Testa- 

14 


210  THE  CHAEACTER  OF  JESUS  CHRIST. 

ment ;  to  be  the  great  atoning  sacrifice  and  only  way  of  access  to 
God  ;  to  be  endowed  Avith  glories  far  surpassing  manhood  ;  to  be 
an  object  of  worship  ;  to  be  the  incarnate  God  ! 

We  pause  in  wonder  before  such  claims ;  but  they  are  true, 
they  are  substantiated  ;  they  won  the  assent  of  the  best  men  of 
that  age  and  of  succeeding  ages.  The  character  of  Christ  gives 
credence  to  the  demands,  even  prior  to  the  external  testimony. 
That  however  which  most  concerns  my  share  of  the  argument,  is, 
that  in  the  portrait  of  character  given  in  the  New  Testament, 
everything  is  in  perfect  harmony.  The  natural  and  the  super- 
natural, the  human  and  the  divine,  do  not  clash.  If  it  were  hard 
to  depict  a  perfect  moral  image,  as  human,  how  surpassingly  diflii- 
cult  to  blend  this  with  the  superhuman  and  divine !  The  deli- 
cacy, the  reserve,  the  consistent  grace,  the  majesty,  with  which 
this  is  done,  transcend  expectation.  Stupendous  miracles  are  re- 
lated with  a  quietude  and  simplicity  such  as  enhance  their  glory. 
Compare  with  this  the  ghastly  images  of  pagan  gods,  and  the 
theophanies  of  the  poets,  and  you  at  once  apprehend  the  force  of 
the  argument.  All  that  it  concerns  me  here  to  show,  is,  that  the 
personality  of  Christ,  as  portrayed  by  the  Evangelists,  has  every- 
thing to  make  it  credible,  even  in  respect  to  its  celestial  side. 

These  claims  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  have  fought  their  suc- 
cessful way  through  every  system  of  opinion,  and  commanded  the 
grateful  belief  of  multitudes.  Other  arguments  may  admit  of 
being  presented  with  more  dialectic  exactness,  in  mood  and  figure, 
but  it  is  my  sincere  persuasion,  that  no  argument  goes  so  pro- 
foundly to  the  heart,  or  so  irrefragably  reasons  down  the  preju- 
dices of  skepticism,  as  the  person  of  Jesus  as  it  shines  out  from 
the  evangelical  pages.  Talk  as  we  may,  about  the  difficulties 
of  this  subject,  the  divine  reasonableness  of  the  truth  here  em- 
bodied and  personified  has  carried  away  captive  the  minds  of  suc- 
cessive generations,  and  is  going  on  conquering  and  to  conquer. 
Among  thousands  of  thousands  of  true  Christians,  every  one  has 
been  smitten  with  this  ideal,  and  has  in  his  measure  striven  to 
reproduce  it.  Every  one  has  not  merely  accepted  the  precepts 
of  Christ,  but  imitated  the  person  of  Christ :  and  the  Christianity 
which  is  in  the  world,  is  after  certain  reflections  and  refractions, 
that  same  light,  mirrored  forth  with  manifold  variety,  according 
to  the  subjective  differences  of  various  minds ;  even  as  the  morn- 
ing sun  comes  to  us  in  the  hues  of  the  mountain,  the  dancing 
waves  of  the  sea  the  flowers  of  the  field,  and  innumerable  drops 


THE   CHARACTER  OF  JESUS  CHRIST.  211 

of  dew,  each  vying  with  the  rest  to  show  forth  some  beam  of  the  great 
luminary.  Such  credence  have  these  claims  received,  that  it  is 
the  character  of  Christ  which  lives  again,  in  each  individual  be- 
liever, and  in  the  body  of  the  Church.  Did  time  permit,  I  might 
go  further  and  show,  that  the  civizilation  of  the  modern  world  is 
a  modified  effluence  from  the  same  centre.  The  humanity  of 
Christian  nations — what  is  it,  but  a  poor  copy  of  the  benignity  of 
Christ?  The  tendencies  to  universal  amity  among  nations — 
what  is  it  but  the  gradual  imitation  of  the  Prince  of  Peace?  The 
hospitals,  infirmaries,  and  asylums  of  our  day,  for  the  helpless, 
blind,  deaf,  lunatic, — what  are  they,  but  the  life  of  Christ,  to  some 
humble  degree,  actuating  the  life  of  society  ?  x4.nd  when  the  pro- 
cess shall  be  complete ;  when  the  last  recusant  shall  give  in  his 
allegiance ;  when  all  nations  shall  be  connected,  and  the  church 
and  the  world  have  the  same  boundaries ;  what  shall  it  be,  but 
the  Body  of  Christ,  in  which  every  member  shall  derive  strength 
and  character  from  the  Head  !* 

*  It  was  at  first  intended  to  refer  in  the  margin  to  the  passages  of  Scripture,  on 
which  the  allegations  of  the  foregoing  discourse  are  founded  :  but  their  number  was 
found  to  be  so  great,  that  citation  of  chapter  and  verse  would  probably  defeat  the 
object  in  view. 


.«•  ,- 


^/y'^^^C,^ 


a^y .  L^ 


25 


^ 


€\it  mmm  of  Cliristimiihi, 

AN   EVIDENCE   OF   ITS   DIVINE   ORIGIN; 


WITH   SOME    OBSERVATIONS    ON    THE    CELEBRATED 
SECONDARY   CAUSES"   OF   MK.   GIBBON. 


MOSES    D.    HOGE, 

KICHMOXD,  VA. 


More  than  1800  years  ago,  amidst  the  shadows  of  the  night 
and  the  gloom  of  a  narrow  defile  near  the  city  of  Jerusalem,  there 
might  have  been  seen  the  dim  outline  of  a  human  form,  prostrate 
upon  the  ground,  uttering  plaintive  cries,  and  exhibiting  evidences 
of  the  most  overwhelming  sorrow. 

Presently  lights  were  seen  glancing  through  the  foliage,  and 
the  heavy  tramp  of  a  company  of  men  was  heard.  A  band  of 
soldiers,  and  others,  bearing  lanterns  and  torches  and  weapons, 
advanced,  and  took  into  custody  the  mysterious  mourner.  A  lit- 
tle company  of  friends  witnessed  the  capture,  but  they  had  neither 
the  strength  nor  the  courage  to  attempt  a  rescue,  and  seeing  him 
in  the  keeping  of  the  soldiers,  they  all  forsook  him  and  fled. 

The  next  day  a  tumultuous  crowd  darkened  the  summit  of  a 
hill,  on  which  three  crosses  had  been  erected.  On  one  of  these 
crosses,  the  captive  of  the  preceding  night  was  hanging  in  the 
agonies  of  death.  But  strange;  prodigies  attended  that  crucifixion. 
All  Nature  gave  signs  of  unwonted  agitation.  The  earth,  as  if 
instinct  with  life,  shuddered  as  the  crimson  drops  trickled  upon  it. 
It  became  pervaded  by  an  emotion  which  seemed  to  pierce  its 
heart  and  thrill  through  its  entire  frame.  Upon  its  quaking  sur- 
face the  forms  of  the  shrouded  dead  were  revealed  to  the  eyes  of 
the  terror-stricken  living,  while  over  the  opening  tombs,  the  rend- 
ing rocks,  and  the  parting  veil  of  the  Temple,  the  sun  wrapped 
himself  in  darkness,  and  thus  pursued  his  journey. 

Nor  was  the  sympathy  of  nature  wholly  inarticulate.  It  found 
an  interpreter  in  the  Centurion,  who,  convinced  by  these  prodigies 
of  the  Divinity  of  the  sufferer,  exclaimed,  "  Truly  this  was  the  Son 
of  God."  But  strange  as  it  may  appear,  while  this  heathen  sol- 
dier is  bearing  such  noble  testimony  to  the  character  of  the  cruci- 
fied Jesus,  his  own  followers  abandon  all  confidence  in  him.  They 
did  hope  that  he  would  prove  the  long-expected  Deliverer — the 
light  of  Israel,  and  the  salvation  of  the  ends  of  the  earth  ;  but, 
now  they  believed  themselves  to  have  been  cruelly  deceived.     It 


216  THE   SUCCESS   OF   CHRISTIANITY. 

was  a  bitter  disappointment,  but  there  was  no  help  for  it.  Their 
fondly  cherished  hopes  must  be  buried  in  the  tomb  in  which  they 
believed  him  to  be  sealed,  the  prisoner  of  death,  until  the  final 
Judgment. 

But  soon  after,  a  surprising  change  took  place  in  the  feelings 
and  in  the  conduct  of  these  timid,  disheartened  men.  Having 
been  scattered,  they  suddenly  rally  again,  their  hopes  revive, 
their  confidence  is  reanimated.  They  are  no  longer  wavering  or 
fearful ;  on  the  contrary,  they  are  decided  and  courageous.  No 
argument  can  shake  their  faith — no  terrors  can  daunt  their  reso- 
lution. Decision — intrepidity — the  loftiest  heroism  characterize 
the  men  who  a  little  while  ago  were  appalled  at  the  death  of  their 
Leader,  and  who  trembled  lest  there  should  be  any  suspicion  of 
their  connection  with  him.  They  themselves  furnish  the  explana- 
tion of  this  sudden  and  otherwise  inexplicable  change  in  their 
views  and  feelings.  They  assert  that  their  crucified  Lord  is  alive. 
Everywhere,  at  all  times,  in  the  face  of  all  dangers,  they  persist  in 
the  declaration  that  they  have  seen  him,  conversed  with  him,  and 
possess  the  most  undeniable  proofs  that  he  has  risen  from  the 
dead.  So  firmly  has  this  conviction  possessed  them — so  wonder- 
fully does  it  animate  them,  that  they  prepare  to  traverse  their 
own,  and  even  foreign  lands,  for  the  sole  purpose  of  proclaiming 
salvation  through  the  crucified  and  risen  Jesus. 

Whether  its  earliest  heralds  were  mistaken,  or  correct  in  their 
belief  of  the  resurrection  of  Christ,  is  not  now  a  point  under  dis- 
cussion. The  fact  that  such  was  their  avowed  conviction  is  all 
that  concerns  us  at  present.  That  they  did  maintain  this  doctrine 
— that  they  made  it  the  basis  of  their  creed — the  theme  of  their 
proclamation,  is  equally  admitted  by  the  Christian  and  the  Infidel. 
Now  of  the  result  of  these  labors  we  have  two  accounts — the  one 
furnished  by  the  friends  of  Christianity,  the  other  by  its  foes. 
Both  of  these  concur  in  two  important  particulars.  They  agree 
in  their  representations  of  the  wonderfully  rapid  diff'usion  of  the 
new  faith,  and  of  the  feeble  and  inconsiderable  instruments  em- 
ployed in  its  propagation. 

We  learn  from  the  writers  of  the  New  Testament  that  the  first 
triumphs  of  Christianity  commenced  in  Jerusalem — the  very  city 
which  had  clamored  for  the  crucifixion  of  Christ.  A  few  days 
after  his  departure  from  the  world  there  was  an  assemblage  of 
disciples  amounting  to  one  hundred  and  twenty  in  number.  In 
a  little  more  than  a  week  after,  three  thousand  were  converted  in 


THE  SUCCESS  OF  CHRISTIANITY.  217 

Jerusalem  under  one  sermon  of  the  Apostles.  This  number  was 
in  a  very  short  time  increased  to  five  thousand.  Nor  were  the 
labors  of  the  Apostles  confined  to  Jerusalem.  They  traversed 
the  whole  land  of  Judea  with  wonderful  success  in  gaining 
numerous  disciples.  Even  a  great  company  of  Priests  became 
obedient  to  the  faith.  Not  to  dwell  upon  particulars,  it  is  suffi- 
cient to  remark,  that  before  the  author  of  the  Acts  of  the  Apostles 
reaches  the  23d  chapter  of  his  brief  history  of  the  infant  church, 
he  asserts  that  thousands  (^/ivQiadog^  myriads)  of  the  Jews  were 
zealous  believers.  And  before  he  concludes  his  narrative,  he  in- 
forms us  that  the  religion  of  the  cross  had  penetrated  Italy  and 
Asia  Minor,  and  had  commenced  its  aggressions  even  upon  the  con- 
tinent of  Africa.  In  less  than  ten  years  from  the  time  when  Paul 
went  forth  on  his  missionary  tour  from  Antioch,  it  was  said  of  hira 
and  his  companions  that  they  had  "turned  the  world  upside  down." 

The  Christian  Fathers  enlarge  upon  the  triumphs  of  the  cross, 
and  dwell  with  exultation  upon  the  splendid  progress  of  the 
Gospel  from  land  to  land,  and  from  continent  to  continent.  Justin 
Martyr,  who  flourished  in  the  beginning  of  the  2d  century,  as- 
serted that  there  was  not  a  nation,  either  Greek  or  barbarian,  or 
of  any  other  name,  even  of  those  who  wandered  in  tribes,  or  lived 
in  tents,  among  whom  prayers  and  thanksgivings  were  not  offered 
to  the  Father  and  Creator  of  the  universe,  through  the  name  of 
the  crucified  Jesus.  Tertullian,  who  lived  about  half  a  century 
later,  exclaims,  "  In  whom  else  have  all  nations  believed,  but  in 
Christ  who  lately  came  ?" 

In  his  appeal  to  the  Roman  governors,  he  indulges  in  this  ex- 
ulting language,  "We  are  but  of  yesterday,  and  we  have  filled 
all  places  belonging  to  you,  your  cities,  islands,  castles,  towns, 
councils,  the  palace,  senate  and  forum,  we  have  left  you  only 
your  temples."  And  he  adds,  that  should  the  Christians  with- 
draw in  a  body  from  the  Empire,  the  world  would  be  amazed  at 
the  solitude  and  desolation  that  would  ensue. 

Such  is  the  testimony  of  the  friends  of  Christianity — let  us  see 
how  far  these  assertions  are  sustained  by  its  foes. 

About  thirty  years  after  the  Crucifixion,  Rome  became  the  the- 
atre of  an  imperial  villany,  which  has  scarcely  a  parallel  in  his- 
tory. The  emperor  Nero  became  the  incendiary  of  his  own  capi- 
tal. To  escape  the  odium  of  such  an  atrocity,  he  accused  the 
Christians  of  having  set  fire  to  the  city,  and  visited  them  with  the 
most  inhuman  cruelties.     Tacitus  declares  that  those  who  bore 


218  THE  SUCCESS  OF  CHRISTIANITY. 

the  vulgar  appellation  of  Christians,  derived  their  namg  and  origin 
from  Christ,  who,  in  the  reign  of  Tiberius,  had  suffered  death  by 
the  sentence  of  Pilate :  that  for  a  while  the  dire  superstition  was 
checked,  but  it  again  burst  forth,  and  not  only  spread  itself  over 
Judea,  but  was  even  introduced  into  Rome.  Now  no  writer  is 
more  carefully  guarded  in  his  statements  than  Tacitus — none 
more  sedulously  free  from  exaggeration,  and  therefore  we  know  it 
is  no  hyperbole  in  which  he  indulges,  when  he  speaks  of  the 
'■'■  bursting  fortli'^  of  the  '^  superstition"  as  he  would  of  the  leaping 
flame  of  a  conflagration,  or  the  headlong  rush  of  a  torrent. — Nor 
would  he  characterize  an  inconsiderable  number  as  a  "  vast  mul- 
titude'^ within  the  very  walls  of  the  capital  of  the  world.  His 
account  of  the  sudden  revival,  and  |,riumphant  progress  of  the 
Gospel,  reminds  us  of  the  New  Testament  narrative  of  the 
descent  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  and  the  simultaneous  conversion  of 
the  thousands  of  Jerusalem. 

The  elegant  Pliny,  governor  of  the  remote  provinces  of  Pontus 
and  Bithynia,  bordering  upon  the  Euxine,  found  these  distant 
regions  so  filled  with  Christians,  that  he  addressed  a  letter  to  the 
Emperor  Trajan,  asking  advice  as  to  the  proper  mode  of  treating 
them.  He  complains  that  the  number  of  the  culprits  was  so 
great  as  to  call  for  serious  consultation ;  he  declares  that  their 
superstition,  as  he  characterizes  it,  had  seized  not  only  upon  the 
cities,  but  upon  the  lesser  towns,  and  open  country ;  that  the 
pagan  temples  had  been  almost  deserted,  the  sacred  solemnities 
suspended,  and  that  scarcely  any  purchasers  could  be  found  for 
the  sacrificial  victims.  Nothing  asserted  in  the  Acts  of  the  Apos- 
tles more  vividly  illustrates  the  triumphant  conquests  of  Chris- 
tianity than  do  these  statements  of  the  pagan  Pliny. 

But  it  is  needless  to  extend  this  testimony,  either  of  the  advo- 
cates or  opponents  of  Christianity,  with  regard  to  its  vast  and 
unparalleled  conquests  in  the  primitive  ages.  It  was  of  rapid 
growth.  It  was  not  slowly  evolved  from  a  germ  like  the  Mythol- 
ogy of  the  ancients,  originating  in  the  dim  antiquity  of  some 
remote  and  obscure  tribe,  to  be  developed  and  perfected  by  the 
accretions  of  long  centuries, — but  it  sprang  into  being,  and  into 
vigorous  maturity,  before  its  enemies  had  any  reason  to  apprehend 
its  power  or  the  impossibihty  of  its  overthrow.  Or,  to  change  the 
figure,  it  was  not  like  the  coral  island  insensibly  emerging  during 
the  progress  of  ages  from  unknown  depths  of  the  ocean,  imper- 
ceptibly rising  above  the  surface,  and  expanding  into  a  continent, 


THE  SUCCESS   OF   CHRISTIANITY.  219 

but  was  rather  like  the  sudden  vision  of  some  newly-forined  oib, 
springing  fresh  and  glowing  from  its  Maker's  hand,  and  hung  up 
in  its  symmetry  and  beauty  to  shine  as  a  light  forever  in  the  fir- 
mament of  Heaven.  Certainly  and  delightfully  true  is  it  that 
Christianity,  with  its  celestial  radiance,  darted,  as  the  beams 
of  the  morning  sun  from  city  to  city,  and  from  continent  to  conti- 
nent, until  kindreds,  people,  tongues,  and  nations,  were  blessed 
by  the  light,  and  warmed  by  the  heat  into  a  new  and  diviner  life. 
All  the  testimony  which  we  have  on  the  subject,  from  whatever 
source  it  comes,  unites  in  illustrating  the  swiftly  advancing  and 
victorious  march  of  Christianity  to  universal  dominion.  Its 
progress  was  signalized  by  the  abolition  of  the  corrupt  and  cruel 
institutions  of  heathenism,  and  by  the  establishment  of  order, 
harmony,  and  prosperity,  in  the  place  of  misrule,  dissension,  and 
wretchedness.  The  bloody  altars  of  superstition  were  overthrown. 
The  temples  of  pagan  deities  were  abandoned  to  solitude  and 
decay.  The  most  hallowed  shrines  grew  mute — or  as  if  smitten 
with  sudden  fear,  uttered  half-audible  responses.  Solemnly  does 
the  choral  verse  of  Milton  celebrate  these  desolations  : — 

"  The  oracles  are  dumb, 
No  voice  or  hideous  hum 

Runs  thro'  the  arched  roof  in  words  deceiving; 
Apollo  from  his  shrine 
Can  no  more  divine, 

With  hollow  shriek  the  steep  of  Delphos  leaving. 
No  nightly  trance,  or  breathed  spell 
Inspires  the  pale-ey'd  priest  from  the  prophetic  cell.  ' 

Peor  and  Baalim 

Forsake  their  temples  dim, 

With  that  twice-battered  God  of  Palestine; 
And  mooned  Ashtaroth 
Heav'n's  queen  and  Mother  both, 

Now  sits  not  girt  with  tapers'  holy  shine. 
*  *  *  # 

And  sullen  Moloch  fled 
Hath  left  in  shadow  dread 

His  burning  idol  of  all  blackest  hue ; 
In  vain  with  cymbals'  ring 
May  call  their  grisly  king 

In  dismal  dance  about  the  furnace  blue. 

*  *  «  *  ' 

Nor  IS  Osiris  seen 

In  Memphian  grove  or  green." 


220  THE   SUCCESS   OF   CHRISTIANITY. 

Tims  was  the  advance  of  Christianity  fiGni  zone  to  zone  attested 
by  the  overthrow  of  idol  gods  and  temples.  And  equally  trium- 
phant was  it  in  conflict  with  every  opposing  force.  At  first  ignored, 
then  despised,  then  trampled  upon  by  the  civil  power — it  com- 
manded respect — then  inspired  fear — -then  displayed  its  majestic 
mighfr,  and  became  terrible  as  an  army  with  banners.  It  stretched 
forth  its  resistless  hand,  and  took  to  itself  the  power.  It  enrobed 
itself  in  the  imperial  purple.  The  banner  of  the  Cross  floated 
from  the  dome  of  the  world's  capitol,  and  the  triumphant  Church 
placed  upon  her  brow  the  diadem  of  the  Caesars.  The  last  page 
of  Eusebius  glowingly  depicts  the  blessedness  of  the  reign  of 
Constantine,  under  whom  had  been  extended  the  dominion  not  of 
pagan  but  of  Christian  Rome  from  the  rising  sun  to  the  last  bor- 
ders of  declining  day,  while  his  exulting  subjects  in  chants,  and 
hymns,  extolled  God  the  universal  King,  and  gave  him  glory  for 
the  victories  of  his  church. 

But  when  we  have  asserted  and  illustrated  the  simple  fact  that 
Christianity  did  thus  rapidly  attain  to  universal  diffusion,  we  have 
only  entered  upon  the  threshold  of  the  subject.  If  we  wonder  at 
the  celerity  of  its  propagation,  much  more  will  our  wonder  be  ex- 
cited when  we  com.e  to  contemplate  the  numerous  and  formidable 
obstacles  which  opposed  its  progress — when  we  consider  how  ever}?^ 
earthly  influence  combined  to  prevent  its  extension,  how  all  the 
prejudices  and  powers  of  the  world  conspired  for  its  annihilation, 
while  there  were  no  visible  agencies  at  all  adequate  to  the  produc- 
tion of  a  result  so  stupendous,  as  its  advancement  from  victory  to 
victory,  until  it  achieved  the  conquest  of  the  world. 

There  is  indeed  one  satisfactory  method  of  accounting  for  the 
success  of  Christianity,  viz. :  by  ascribing  it  to  that  power  which 
built  the  worlds.  But  setting  aside  for  the  present  this  single 
method  of  explaining  its  triumphs,  its  success  becomes  the  most 
inexplicable  of  all  wonders. 

Christianity  is  now  an  existing  fact.  We  can  review  its  his- 
tory— we  can  trace  its  entire  career  from  its  origin,  through  all  its 
struggles  and  victories,  down  to  the  present  hour.  But  were  our 
stand  point  the  beginning  of  the  1st  century,  instead  of  the  mid- 
dle of  the  19th  century  of  the  Christian  era,  and  were  we  from 
that  point  of  observation  required  to  estimate  the  probabilities  of 
i?s  success,  by  all  the  modes  of  reasoning  known  to  man,  we 
would  be  forced  to  the  conclusion  that  it  never  could  prevai!. 
Our  verdict  would  be  that  its  success  would  be  contrary  to  all  the 


THE   SUCCESS   OF   CURISTIAXITY.  »221 

laws  of  inind,  to  all  the  experience  of  the  past,  to  all  the  relations 
of  cause  and  effect.  There  was  a  time  when  this  was  the  verdict 
of  all  who  had  heard  of  the  pretensions  of  Christianit}-,  wiih  the 
exception  of  a  dozen  obscure  and  illiterate  individuals  in  the  land 
of  Judea.  Even  had  Christianit}'^  commenced  its  career  by  adapt- 
ing itself  to  the  natural  passions  of  the  human  heart — had  it 
sought  to  allure  men  by  the  proffer  of  earthly  power,  wealth  and 
pleasure — had  it  imposed  no  restraints  and  required  no  sacri- 
fices— had  it  been  advocated  by  philosophers  and  orators — had 
genius,  art,  and  fashion  lent  it  their  fascinations — had  rank  anc) 
power  afforded  it  their  countenance  and  support,  even  then,  in 
a  world  composed  of  nations  and  races  sodissimilar  in  intelligence, 
tastes,  interests,  and  habits,  we  could  hardly  have  anticipated  its 
universal  prevalence — for  when  have  all  mankind  agreed  in  any 
opinion,  or  become  simultaneously  subject  to  the  same  influence? 
Said  Celsus,  one  of  the  early  fathers  of  skepticism,  "A  man  must 
be  very  weak  to  suppose  that  Greeks  and  barbarians  can  ever 
unite  under  the  same  system  of  religion  !"  But  we  proceed  to 
show  that  Christianity,  so  far  from  possessing  such  natural  attrac- 
tions and  adventitious  aids  as  have  been  alluded  to,  commenced 
its  career  with  pretensions,  with  demands,  with  advocates,  with 
prospects,  all  calculated  to  excite  scorn  and  opposition — calculated 
to  bring  it  into  direct  and  fierce  collision  with  all  established 
opinions  and  venerable  institutions — with  all  the  philosophy  of 
the  learned,  with  all  the  creeds  of  the  superstitious,  with  all  the 
jealousy  of  governments,  with  all  the  enmity  of  the  natural 
heart,  while  the  agencies  employed  for  its  extension  were,  to 
human  appearance,  not  on]y  feeble,  but  repulsive,  and  despicable. 

The  very  birth-place  of  Christianity  was  inauspicious.  The 
Jewish  nation  was  the  most  unpopular  branch  of  the  human 
family.  Their  land  was  the  Boeotia  of  the  world.  It  was  re- 
garded as  the  native  home  of  fanaticism,  bigotry,  and  detestable 
superstition.  We  may  learn  from  Tacitus  in  what  estimation 
the  Jewish  people  were  regarded  by  their  neighbors.  He  stig- 
matizes them  as  a  race  excessively  depraved,  prone  to  lust,  and 
accounting  no  abomination  as  unlawful.  He  declares,  that  what 
others  deem  sacred,  they  reckon  profane,  and  what  others  abhor, 
they  freely  tolerate.  Now,  a  religion  emanating  from  a  people 
regarded  with  such  aversion  by  the  rest  of  mankind,  would  be 
prejudged  and  condemned  without  an  investigation. 

But  how  could  Christianity  originate  among  the  Jews  them- 


222'  THE   SUCCESS   OF   CHRISTIANITY. 

selves?  It  is  true  that  about  the  time  of  the  birth  of  Christ  there 
was  among  them  a  very  general  expectation  of  the  advent  of 
some  extraordinary  personage,  whom  their  Prophets  had  denomi- 
nated Messiah.  In  glowing  terms  they  had  described  him  as  a 
mighty  conqueror  who  should  deliver  his  people  from  foreign 
domination,  impart  new  splendors  to  the  throne  of  David,  and 
extend  over  the  world  the  sceptre  of  universal  empire.  Hence 
the  Jews,  from  whom  civil  independence  was  now  departing, 
eagerly  seized  upon  such  declarations,  and  giving  to  them  a 
literal  interpretation,  revelled  in  the  anticipation  of  the  national 
supremacy  and  glory  to  which  their  deliverer  would  exalt  them. 
And  although  their  Prophets  had  also  spoken  of  the  humiliations 
and  woes  of  their  Messiah,  they  would  have  readily  forgiven  him 
any  failure  in  fulfilling  these  predictions,  had  he  but  possessed  the 
power  to  elevate  them  to  that  temporal  aggrandizement  which 
they  coveted. 

But  when  they  saw  him  enter  their  capital  without  pomp  or 
pageantry,  surrounded  by  publicans  and  fishermen,  instead  of  a 
splendid  retinue  of  courtiers,  followed  by  the  poor,  the  blind,  and 
the  halt — how  great  was  their  disappointment  and  chagrin — how 
bitter  their  derision  of  his  kingly  pretensions  !  Nazareth  was 
his  reputed  home,  and  Galileans  his  chosen  associates — but 
Nazareth  and  Galilean  were  names  of  reproach  even  in  Jeru- 
salem. A  Nazarene  our  Messiah  !  A  Galilean  our  King  !  No, 
exclaimed  they,  this  is  not  he ;  when  Christ  cometh  no  man 
knoweth  whence  he  is.  Is  not  this  the  carpenter's  son  ?  And 
above  all,  when  they  saw  him  unresisting  and  deserted — spat 
upon,  and  derided — and  then  led  away  to  ignominious  crucifixion, 
they  regarded  this  as  a  fit  termination  for  so  miserable  an  impos- 
ture. "  Away  with  him  !"  "  Crucify  him."  "  Let  his  memory 
perish  !"  And  yet — astonishing  to  relate,  and  strangely  true — 
multitudes  of  those  who  had  joined  in  this  cry,  and  who  had 
witnessed  his  death  on  the  cross,  in  a  few  days  after,  under  the 
preaching  of  Peter,  an  obscure  Galilean  fisherman,  were  cut  to 
the  heart,  and  openly — exultingly — professed  faith  in  the  cruci- 
fied Jesus,  and  became  his  devoted  disciples  ! 

How  is  this  mighty  revulsion  of  feeling,  this  total  change  of 
life,  to  be  accounted  for  ?  How  came  it  that  the  deep-rooted 
prejudices  of  thousands  were  annihilated  in  a  twinkling,  or  ex- 
changed for  admiration  and  love  stronger  than  death  ? 

These  very  men  had  doubtless  witnessed  many  of  the  wonder- 


THE   SUCCESS   OF   CHRISTIANITY.  223 

ful  works  of  Christ— they  had  been  spectators  of  his  anfecting 
death — they  had  seen  the  lieaving  of  the  rocks,  and  felt  the 
quaking  of  the  earth,  and  had  been  shrouded  in  the  preternatural 
darkness  :  and  was  the  preaching  of  the  darkened  heavens,  and 
of  the  bursting  tombs,  and  of  the  trembhng  earth,  and  of  the 
Saviour's  dying  groans,  less  eloquent  than  the  preaching  of 
Galilean  Peter  ?  Surely  not.  How,  why  then,  were  the  Jews 
noiv  convinced  ?  What  overpowering  spell  so  suddenly  conquered 
their  wilful  prejudice,  their  determined  unbelief?  Surely  here  is 
mystery  wholly  inexplicable  by  all  natural  causes.  Was  it  a 
mere  human  power,  which  thus  conquered  them?  Then  it  was 
a  human  power  also,  which  cleaved  the  rocks,  and  shook  the 
earth,  and  clothed  the  sun  with  darkness. 

Such  was  the  first  triumph  of  Christianity.  But  the  heralds 
of  the  Cross  do  not  confine  their  labors  to  Palestine.  They  visit 
pagan  lands.  They  proclaim  the  resurrection  of  Christ,  and  the 
doctrine  of  salvation  through  him  alone,  to  the  most  barbarous, 
and  to  the  most  enlightened  nations  of  the  Gentile  world.  They 
seem  to  make  no  distinction  between  savage  and  civilized  people. 
They  evince  no  preference  for  any  particular  field  of  labor,  but 
visit  with  equal  readiness  the  most  refined  and  polished  cities, 
and  the  most  benighted  and  barbarous  provinces.  They  are  as 
confident  and  courageous  in  the  proudest  capital  as  in  the  ob- 
scurest hamlet.  The  early  champions  of  the  Cross  did  not  hover 
about  the  outskirts  of  civilization,  like  Cossacks  around  the 
camps  of  disciplined  armies,  only  to  make  sudden  and  irregular 
assaults — and  then  to  flee  to  the  wilds  of  the  desert !  It  would 
indeed  have  been  a  suspicious  circumstance,  if  Christianity  had 
evinced  a  preference  for  the  haunts  of  ignorant  and  savage  tribes, 
and  had  it  selected  these,  as  the  theatre  of  its  first  aggressions. 
Untutored  and  unreflecting  men  might  easily  have  been  made 
the  dupes  of  an  imposture,  however  base  and  impudent.  But  on 
the  contrary — in  the  words  of  a  venerable  divine — "  In  this  re- 
spect Christianity  stands  upon  high  vantage  ground.  Its  Author 
first  announced  himself  to  an  age  celebrated  in  story  and  im- 
mortalized in  song.  His  Apostles  travelled  over  classic  ground. 
They  established  churches  in  the  land  of  Euclid,  of  Aristotle 
and  Longinus  ;  of  Demosthenes,  Solon,  and  Lycurgus  :  of  Homer 
and  Pindar,  Atticus  and  Cicero,  Sallust  and  Livy,  Horace,  Ovid, 
and  Virgil."  It  was  the  Augustan  age — an  age  distinguished  for 
its  constellation  of  ooets,  orators,  and  statesmen — an  age  eminent 


224  THE   SUCCESS   OF   CHRISTIANITY. 

among  all  others  for  its  inquisitive  researches,  its  ingenious  dis- 
putations, its  vast  and  varied  erudition,  its  bold  speculations,  and 
unfettered  freedom  of  opinion.  Not  only  were  Ephesus  and 
Antioch,  and  other  renowned  cities  of  Asia,  honored  by  apostolic 
labors,  but  another  city — more  renowned  than  all — a  city  where 
the  merchant  found  his  exchange,  the  student  his  university,  the 
artist  his  studio — ^the  pleasure-loving  his  paradise,  and  the  wit  his 
admiring  audience — the  classic  capital  of  the  most  classic  land — 
there,  too,  the  Apostle  proclaimed  his  message,  in  the  hearing  of 
the  volatile,  ingenious  Athenians  (those  true  Parisians  of  an- 
tiquity)— and  proclaimed  it  too  with  just  as  much  confidence  and 
expectation  of  success,  as  if,  instead  of  the  Areopagus,  he  had  stood 
in  the  cottage  of  some  Galilean  fisherman  !  Nor  did  his  labors  ter- 
minate until  his  desire  to  see  Rome  also,  was  gratified, — until 
Ceesar's  household  heard  from  his  lips  the  story  of  the  Cross. 

But  what  popular  doctrines  do  the  Apostles  proclaim,  as  they 
journey  from  city  to  city,  and  from  province  to  province,  captivat- 
ing and  entrancing  one  quarter  of  the  globe  after  another?  How 
contrary  to  all  that  we  might  anticipate  is  the  answer  !  Doctrines 
most  unpalatable  and  offensive.  The  great  burden  of  their  proc- 
lamation is  salvation  through  the  merits  of  a  crucified  Jew  ! 

We  have  already  adverted  to  the  estimation  in  which  the  Ro- 
mans held  the  Hebrew  race.  And  if  such  was  their  contempt 
and  aversion  toward  that  whole  people — now  that  they  were  in 
the  very  act  of  wresting  the  sceptre  from  Judah,  how  could  they 
be  induced  to  acknowledge  a  plebeian  of  that  nation,  as  a  king, 
— a  plebeian  despised  and  rejected  by  the  vast  majority  of  his 
own  countrymen  ? 

Had  Jesus  been  still  living — had  he  advanced  toward  the  capi- 
tal, as  an  ambitious  warrior  at  the  head  of  a  brave  army — Ro- 
mans might  have  respected  him  as  a  gallant  foe ;  still  the  temple 
of  Janus  would  have  been  thrown  open,  and  mail-clad  legions 
would  have  marched  to  meet  the  invader.  But  if  no  greater  honor 
than  this  could  have  been  shown  him,  how  could  the  Romans,  ig- 
norant of  prophecy  and  of  the  spiritual  nature  of  his  kingdom, 
receive  him  as  a  King  and  Saviour?  Would  they  not  despise 
him  and  deride  his  pretensions,  even  more  than  his  own  country- 
men did  previous  to  the  day  of  Pentecost  ? 

Accustomed  as  we  have  ever  been  to  associate  the  Cuoss  with 
all  that  is  sacred  and  venerable,  we  can  have  no  conception  of  the 
disgust  which  would  arise  in  the  Roman  mind,  at  the  proposal  to 


THE   SUCCESS   OF   CHRISTIANITY.  225 

elevate  a  crucified  man  to  the  rank  of  a  Divine  Saviour — and 
withal  a  crucified  Jew — a  Jew  who  was  born  in  a  stable.  What 
witticisms,  what  jeers,  what  scoffs  would  overwhelm  the  advo- 
cates of  such  a  Divinity.  No  wonder  that  a  Roman  governor 
should  have  charged  one  of  them  with  being  "  mad."  Should 
some  one  in  this  land  assert  the  Godhead  of  an  Indian  who  had 
been  hanged  upon  a  gallows,  he  would  not  more  offend  the  moral 
sense  of  the  community,  than  did  this  doctrine  of  the  Apostles, 
the  proud  and  polished  people  to  whom  it  was  addressed. 

But  what  doctrines  did  the  Apostles  proclaim  which  were  not 
opposed  to  the  sentiments  of  the  natural  heart  ?  It  is  no  compH- 
ment  to  a  man  'to  tell  him  that  he  is  totally  depraved,  utterly 
helpless,  and  justly  condemned.  It  is  an  impolitic  way  to  at- 
tempt to  gain  adherents  to  a  cause  by  demanding  of  them  heavy 
sacrifices,  and  painful  self-denials.  And  no  system  of  human  in- 
vention, seeking  the  suffrages  and  applauses  of  the  world,  w^ould 
have  demanded  as  'Ms  first  requirement,  self-crucifixion,  and  a  re- 
nunciation of  all  that  is  most  dear  to  the  natural  heart.  Yet  such 
were  the  exactions  of  Christianity.  It  was  never  offered  to  men 
as  a  speculative  creed,  intended  merely  to  occupy  the  intellect, — 
but  it  was  urged  as  a  rule  of  action,  to  control  the  outer  and  inner 
life  of  man — to  regulate  not  only  external  conduct,  but  to  prescribe 
imperative  laws  for  the  government  of  the  thoughts,  desires,  and 
affections — condemning  ambition,  avarice,  envy,  intrigue,  carnal 
ease,  sensual  indulgence, — and  enjoining  meekness,  temperance, 
forgiveness,  love  to  God,  love  to  man,  love  to  enemies,  purity  of 
life,  holiness  of  heart. 

Almost  every  precept  of  Christianity  imposes  a  restraint,  or  de- 
mands the  mortification  of  some  passion  or  inclination  of  the 
heart. 

By  nature,  man  is  proud  and  self-sufficient — Christianity  de- 
clares him  to  be  weak  and  dependent,  and  incapable  of  self-guid- 
ance. Though  man  is  naturally  obstinate  and  self-willed,  Chris- 
tianity demands  the  subjection  of  every  faculty  and  power  to  the 
law  of  another.  Though  man  is  naturally  selfish  and  intent  on 
the  gratification  of  his  own  wishes,  regardless  of  the  happiness 
of  others,  Christianity  enjoins  a  philanthropy  which  is  wholly 
disinterested,  it  demands  a  sacrifice  of  personal  ease  and  interest 
for  the  promotion  of  the  good  of  others,  and  ordains  a  charity 
which  shall  embrace  in  its  arms  the  whole  family  of  man. 
Though  man  is  by  nature  prone  to  retaliation  under  a  sense  of 

15 


226  THE  SUCCESS   OF   CHRISTIANITY. 

wrong — though  for  the  moment  revenge  is  sweet  when  it  is 
glutted  by  the  destruction  of  its  victim,  yet  even  when  the  bosom 
is  sweUing  with  rage— when  furious  passions  lash  the  soul  into  a 
tempest,  and  drown  the  voice  of  reason — even  then,  the  clear  ce- 
lestial tones  of  the  gospel  are  heard,  rising  above  the  din  of 
passion,  saying,  "Peace,  be  still."  "Dearly  beloved,  avenge  not 
yourselves,  but  rather  give  place  unto  wrath."  "If  thine  enemy 
hunger,  feed  him.  if  he  thirst,  give  him  drink  !" 

When  Homer  gave  to  the  world  his  portraiture  of  the  most  re- 
nowned hero  of  antiquity — the  prominent  traits  of  whose  charac- 
ter the  great  Latin  bard  has  summed  up  in  one  nervous  line, 

"  Impiger,  iracundus,  inexorabilis,  acer," 

— epithets  which  might  furnish  names  for  four  devils — he  did  not 
offend  the  moral  sense  of  his  countrymen  by  such  a  delineation  ; 
neither  was  Greek  nor  Roman  admiration  of  the  character  of 
this  warrior  diminished,  even  when  he  is  represented  as  dragging 
the  dead  body  of  his  gallant  rival — bound  to  his  chariot  wheels — 
three  times  around  the  walls  of  Troy,  and  that  too  in  the  sight  of 
his  aged  father. 

How  foreign  to  all  the  genius  and  spirit  of  the  age  which  wit- 
nessed its  triumphs,  Avere  the  teachings  of  the  Gospel.  Plain  un- 
lettered men,  without  wealth,  or  rank,  or  influence  (and  with  one 
or  two  exceptions),  without  address,  or  eloquence,  went  abroad 
proclaiming  doctrines  most  novel,  startling,  unpalatable.  "A 
crucified  Christ  was  all  their  rhetoric,"  and  yet  no  doctrines  ever 
promulgated,  before  or  since  that  day,  met  with  such  universal 
favor — no  teachings  ever  so  penetrated  and  transformed  human 
hearts,  none  ever  gained  a  popularity  so  world-wide.  But  did 
Christianity  obtain  its  unlimited  supremacy  over  the  hearts  of 
men,  did  it  triumph  over  principalities,  did  it  ascend  a  throne,  and 
issue  its  undisputed  edicts  to  the  subjugated  nations — by  forbid- 
ding all  that  corrupt  humanity  craved,  by  enjoining  all  that  cor- 
rupt humanity  was  averse  to — by  waging  war  of  extermination 
upon  every  depraved,  and  therefore  cherished,  passion,  prejudice 
and  propensity?  Leaving  out  of  view  the  intervention  of  divine 
power,  here  is  an  enigma  to  be  solved  by  some  more  gifted  in- 
tellect than  the  world  has  yet  been  favored  with. 

Another  obstacle  to  the  progress  of  Christianity,  was  its  uncom- 
promising exclusiveness.  It  refused  to  come  under  the  patronage 
of  any  other  religion.    It  refused  to  take  any  other  religion  unde? 


THE  SUCCESS   OF  CHRISTIANITY.  227 

its  patronage.  It  would  not  even  enter  into  a  friendly  alliance. 
It  would  not  even  make  a  treaty  of  peace.  It  proclaimed  eternal 
warfare  upon  every  other  faith.  Its  Janus  was  never  to  be  closed 
while  an  enemy  survived.  It  demanded  the  overthrow  of  every 
altar  and  temple  of  Paganism.  Its  aim  was  a  total  abrogation  of 
all  the  religious  systems  of  the  world.  It  demanded  the  utter  an- 
nihilation of  institutions  which  the  revolution  of  ages  had  rendered 
venerable  and  sacred  in  the  memories  of  men.  Claiming  to  be 
the  only  true  religion,  it  would  not  receive  the  false  into  its  em- 
brace. To  every  proposed  affiliation,  its  genius  replied, — what 
communion  hath  light  with  darkness — what  concord  hath  Christ 
with  Belial?  It  declared  to  Paganism  that  its  priests  were  jug- 
glers, and  its  gods  a  lie.  It  declared  to  Judaism,  that  its  mission 
had  ended — that  its  glory  had  departed — that  it  was  now  only 
the  worthless  scaffold  around  some  completed  palace,  and  as  such, 
fit  only  to  be  thrown  down.  It  declared  to  the  sage,  that  his  pro- 
foundest  speculations  were  vain  janglings.  It  ranked  the  Epicu- 
rean with  the  beasts,  and  the  Stoic  with  the  stones  of  the  field. 
It  estimated  the  wisdom  of  the  Scribe  as  lighter  than  vanity.  It 
denounced  the  sleek  and  sanctimonious  Pharisee  as  a  disguised 
hypocrite,  and  rent  in  fragments  the  reverend  garments  whose 
hem  men  had  stooped  to  kiss,  and  exhibited  the  wearer  to  the 
world,  as  a  naked  child  of  the  Devil. 

Such  was  the  attitude  which  Christianity  assumed  toward  the 
time-hallowed  systems  of  the  world.  Such  was  the  attitude  of  a 
novel  religion — one  which  sprung  from  a  subjugated  people — 
whose  founder  was  a  carpenter,  and  whose  greatest  apostle  was 
a  fentmaker. 

Far  easier  is  it  to  change  the  kings  than  the  gods — the  gov- 
ernment than  the  religion  of  any  nation.  Did  exclusive,  uncom- 
promising, all-assuming  Christianity  adopt  the  right  policy  for 
effecting  such  a  change? 

Nor  are  we  to  suppose  that  Polytheism  had  a  slight  hold  upon 
the  affections  and  prejudices  of  men.  It  commended  itself  to  the 
favor  of  the  sensual  by  the  indulgence  it  permitted.  The  fires 
of  unhallowed  lust  were  kindled  upon  the  very  altars  of  Pagan- 
ism. It  commended  itself  to  the  imagination  of  the  refined,  by 
the  beauty  of  its  mythology.  It  placed  genial  household  gods 
beneath  every  roof  It  animated  all  nature  with  propitious 
deities.  It  gave  Naiads  to  every  fountain,  and  Dryads  to  every 
grove.     Aurora  rode  upon  the  beams  of  the  morning,  and  Iris 


228  THE  SUCCESS  OF   CHRISTIANITY. 

clothed  herself  in  the  melting  hues  of  the  rainbow.  Old  ocean 
obeyed  its  trident-bearing  God — the  voices  of  spirits  were  heard 
along  its  flashing  waves,  and  sportive  Nereids  gambolled  upon  its 
yellow  sands. 

It  commended  itself  to  the  taste  of  the  common  people  by  its 
gorgeously  attired  priests,  its  showy  temples,  its  jocund  festivals, 
its  stately  processions,  and  brilliant  ritual  services,  rendered  more 
attractive  by  all  the  charms  derived  from  an  alliance  with  music, 
painting,  and  sculpture.  How  seemingly  hopeless  the  aggres- 
sioos  of  Christianity,  without  imposing  rites,  without  altars,  with- 
out sacrifices,  or  visible  gods — and  utterly  devoid  of  all  external 
attractions. 

How  can  a  religion  of  faith — a  purely  spiritual  religion,  over- 
turn systems  venerable  for  antiquity — deeply  entrenched  in  preju- 
dices of  men — endeared  by  association — upheld  by  the  homage 
and  personal  devotion  of  statesmen  and  warriors,  who  felt  hon- 
ored in  exchanging  the  gown  and  the  armor  for  the  sacerdotal 
vestments,  that  they  might  personally  assist  in  the  sacred  cere- 
monies? How  shall  a  superstition  commending  itself  to  the 
bosoms  and  business  of  men — pervading  all  the  ramifications  of 
social  life — interwoven  with  all  the  departments  of  government — 
under  whose  auspices  Greece  had  attained  her  highest  heaven 
of  classic  renown,  under  whose  favoring  smiles  Rome  had 
achieved  the  conquest  of  the  world— how  shall  a  system  thus 
founded,  and  thus  supported,  be  supplanted  by  an  upstart  faith 
which  does  not  offer  one  attraction  to  worldly  pride,  pleasure,  or 
glory,  but  which  on  the  contrary,  summons  its  votaries  to  a  life 
of  mortification  and  self-denial — to  obloquy,  and  the  ruin  of  all 
earthly  prospects, — whose  open  confession  is,  "7/*m  this  life  only 
we  have  hope,  we  are  of  all  men  most  miserable .'"  With  pros- 
pects like  these,  what  earthly  possibility  is  there  of  its  triumph 
over  the  firmly  established  and  fondly  cherished  institutions  of 
Polytheism?  Experience  answers — reason,  common  sense  an- 
swers, it  cannot  prevail — it  must  perish  : — nevertheless  it  did 
prevail — it  did  triumph.  It  scattered  Polytheism  to  the  winds — 
it  sent  its  idols  to  the  moles  and  the  bats — it  laid  its  proudest  temples 
in  the  dust,  and  on  the  ruins  of  the  fallen  fabric,  it  planted  the 
immovable  foundations,  and  reared  the  eternal  pillars  of  the 
Christian  Church.  Is  this  august  strflcture  the  work  of  human 
hands?  A  stone-mason  can  build  a  wall — but  does  it  therefore 
follow  that  he  can  build  a  world  ? 


THE  SUCCESS   OF   CHRISTIANITY.  229 

We  have  now  considered  the  obstacles  to  the  success  of  Chria- 
tianity  arising  from  its  innate  otFensiveness  to  human  taste,  preju- 
dice, and  reason,  its  failure  to  meet  the  exalted  expectations  of 
the  Jews,  the  absurdity  of  its  doctrines  in  the  estimation  of  en- 
lightened Pagans,  the  startling  novelty  of  its  precepts,  its  want 
of  temporal  rewards  for  its  votaries,  its  unattractive  spirituality, 
its  destitution  of  all  such  sensuous  charms  as  would  captivate 
the  vulgar,  its  uncompromising  exclusiveness,  and  determined 
hostility  to  every  other  religion,  and  now  it  only  remains  to  con- 
template its  triumph  over  one  other  obstacle,  viz.  over  the  active 
external  opposition  which  it  encountered  on  all  sides — the  des- 
perate efforts  of  its  enemies  for  its  overthrow  by  means  of  slan- 
derous tongues,  and  slanderous  pens,  and  the  dreadful  sword  of  ■ 
persecution. 

The  success  of  Christianity  under  persecution  is  a  strange, 
and  deeply  interesting  phenomenon.  It  would  be  impossible  to 
specify  all  the  forms  of  assault  to  which  its  enemies  resorted. 
Wherever  Christianity  appeared,  it  excited  the  rage  of  various 
classes  and  orders  of  men,  who  opposed  it  from  widely  different 
motives. 

Professing  to  be  a  universal  religion,  its  proclamations  must 
needs  go  throughout  all  the  earth,  and  be  heard  in  the  ends  of 
the  world.  Its  voice  must  mingle  with  the  soft  murmur  of  the 
Mediterranean  waves,  and  with  the  hoarse  tempests  which 
thunder  along  the  bleak  shores  of  the  frozen  sea.  It  must  come 
in  contact  with  every  phase  of  human  character,  as  varied  by 
different  climates,  degrees  of  civilization,  and  forms  of  govern- 
ment, and  hence  it  must  excite  an  opposition  as  diversified  as  the 
abodes,  customs,  and  interests  of  mankind.  But  for  the  present, 
leaving  this  extended  field  of  observation,  and  confining  our  at- 
tention to  the  fortunes  of  Christianity  in  the  Roman  Empire 
alone,  we  can  readily  anticipate  what  a  host  of  foes  its  aggres- 
sions would  stir  up  among  that  people.  Polytheism  was  the 
munificent  patron  both  of  the  fine  and  mechanic  arts.  It  gave 
employment  to  the  painter,  to  the  poet,  and  to  the  humblest 
artisan.  It  gave  honor  and  emolument  to  the  vast  retinue  of 
priests  and  officials  in  the  service  of  the  gods  of  every  shrine  and 
temple.  It  gave  entertainment  to  the  countless  multitude  in 
whose  minds  alternate  emotions  of  awe,  pleasure,  and  exultation, 
were  enkindled  by  public  games,  processions,  and  festivals. 

An  innumerable  sacerdotal  throng  of  Pontifices,  Augurs,  Vestals, 


230  THE  SUCCESS   OF   CHRISTIANITY. 

and  Flamens,  derived  their  support  from  the  revenues  of  the  tern 
pies,  and  from  the  pubHc  treasury.  But  should  the  doctrines  of 
Christianity  prevail,  who  would  believe  their  venerable  lies?  Who 
would  make  them  donation  visits?  Whence  could  they  obtain 
bread,  the  impostures  of  their  craft  once  exploded?  It  is  not 
agreeable  either  to  a  mercenary  pohtician,  or  priest,  to  lose  office. 
As  a  matter  of  course,  all  the  satellites,  and  retainers,  and  depend- 
ants of  Paganism  would  rouse  all  their  energies  to  resist  the  in- 
roads of  the  gospel,  which  took  away  at  once  their  credit  and  their 
means  of  subsistence.  The  common  people  would  be  enraged  at 
the  loss  of  their  favorite  entertainments.  The  philosophers  would 
gnash  their  teeth  against  a  system  which  closed  their  schools, 
and  rendered  their  teachings  contemptible.  The  higher  classes 
of  society,  men  of  rank  and  influence,  senators  and  soldiers,  men 
who  derived  new  distinction  by  officiating  at  the  ceremonials  of 
religion,  would  indignantly  frown  upon  a  faith  which  mocked  at 
their  divinities  and  solemn  mysteries.  Kings  and  magistrates 
would  regard  with  mingled  fear  and  detestation  such  an  overturn- 
ing of  the  religion  which  was  incorpoi:ated  with  the  state,  which 
was  sustained  by  proscription  and  prejudice,  which  was  so  inter- 
woven with  the  civil  and  military  institutions  of  the  country,  that 
no  warlike  expedition  could  be  ordered,  and  not  even  a  seat  taken 
in  the  senate,  without  accompanying  religious  ceremonies.  Hence 
Christianity  was  regarded  as  treason  against  the  state. 

We  cannot  wonder,  therefore,  at  the  variety  or  the  virulence  of 
the  assaults  made  upon  so  restless  an  agitator.  The  foulest  slan- 
ders were  verbally  circulated,  accusing  Christians  of  dark,  impure, 
and  bloody  rites.  The  acutest  and  most  brilliant  writers  employed 
all  their  learning  and  cunning  to  bring  Christianity  into  contempt. 
Among  others,  Celsus,  Porphyry,  Syiifimachus,  and  the  Emperor 
Julian,  wrote  treatises,  fragments  of  which  have  come  down  to  us, 
from  which  we  learn,  that  although  they  did  not  deny  the  mira- 
cles of  the  gospel  record,  yet  they  assailed  Christianity  with  a 
malignity  which  rivalled  the  ingenuity  of  Spinosa,  the  wit  of 
Voltaire,  and  the  ribaldry  of  Paine. 

■But  the  final  appeal  of  terrified  and  tottering  Paganism  was  to 
the  power  of  the  government.  The  Roman  monarchy,  the  great- 
est and  strongest  upon  earth,  directed  all  its  might  toward  the 
overthrow,  and  if  possible  the  extinction  of  the  Christian  Church. 

A  certain  class  of  writers  have  indeed  endeavored  to  create  the 
impression  that  the  Roman  government  was  wonderfully  liberal 


THE   SUCCESS   OF   CURISTL\NITr.  281 

and  tolerant  toward  the  religions  of  other  nations.  But  a  closer 
examination  into  the  best  authorities  on  the  subject  will  lead  us 
to  a  very  different  conclusion.  It  is  true  that  some  of  the  empe- 
rors were  disposed  to  be  lenient  and  indulgent.  There  were  in- 
tervals during  which  the  Church  enjoyed  seasons  of  comparative 
tranquillity.  It  is  also  admitted  that  individuals  were  permitted 
to  express  their  sentiments  with  a  great  degree  of  freedom.  For 
example,  upon  the  stage,  and  in  the  writings  of  the  satiric  poets, 
the  keenest  ridicule  was  directed  toward  the  thieves,  murderers, 
and  adulterers,  facetiously  styled  the  "  Immortal  Gods,"  and 
winked  at,  perhaps  enjoyed  by  the  magistrates  themselves.  The 
caustic  irony  of  Plautus  and  Terence,  the  philosophic  raillery  of 
Cicero  and  Lucian  might  be  indulged  with  impunity.  It  is  also 
true  that  when  the  Romans  wished  to  conciliate  a  particular  peo- 
ple, they  did  not  hesitate  to  express  great  reverence  for  the  gods 
of  that  people.  But  Christianity  was  not  the  religion  of  any 
nation — but  of  a  new  sect.  It  was  a  reUgion  demanding  uncon- 
ditional submission  to  its  requirements,  and  refusing  to  enter  into 
coalition  with  any  form  of  idolatry.  Hence,  there  was  no  motive, 
or  policy,  in  treating  it  with  conciliation.  There  was,  on  the  con- 
trary, everything  to  provoke  jealousy  and  hatred.  And  when 
one  of  the  emperors  proposed  to  give  Jesus  Christ  a  place  among 
the  gods  of  the  nation,  the  proposal  was  rejected  by  the  senate. 

Moreover,  the  Romans  ascribed  their  greatness  as  a  people,  and 
the  unexampled  success  of  their  arms,  to  the  favor  of  their  gods. 
It  was  the  rhetorical  boast  of  Min.  Felix  Octavius,  that  "  because 
of  exercising  religious  discipline  in  the  camp,  Rome  had  stretched 
her  dominions  beyond  the  paths  of  the  sun,  and  the  limits  of  the 
ocean."  Hence,  however  theoretically  tolerant  of  other  religions 
there  was  often  a  political  necessity  for  the  exclusion  of  foreign 
rites.  It  was  forbidden  by  law  to  pay  religious  honors  to  any 
deity,  which  had  not  been  recognized  by  a  legislative  act.  S. 
iEmilius  Paulus,  during  his  consulship,  ordered  the  temples  of 
two  foreign  deities,  not  legally  recognized,  to  be  destroyed.  On 
several  occasions  the  senate  felt  itself  constrained  to  exert  its 
power  to  prevent  religious  innovations.  Livy  quotes  an  eloquent 
speech  of  one  of  the  consuls  against  foreign  rites,  Dion  Cassius 
has  transmitted  to  us  a  celebrated  oration  in  which  Maecenas 
demonstrates  to  Augustus  the  danger  of  tolerating  exotic  religions, 
and  even  under  the  reign  of  Tiberius— that  enemy  of  gods  and 
men — th^  Egyptian  ceremonies  were  prohibited.     A  Roman  jurist 


232  THE   SUCCESS   OF   CHRISTIANITY. 

declares  it  to  be  a  principle  of  their  law,  that  those  who  introduced 
religions  of  new  and  doubtful  tendency,  if  men  of  rank,  were  to 
be  degraded,  if  plebeians,  were  to  be  punished  with  death  !  But 
of  all  the  forms  of  faith  known  to  the  world,  Christianity,  for  the 
reasons  already  mentioned,  was  most  obnoxious  to  the  jealousy  of 
government.  It  could  not  be  a  religio  Ucitn  of  the  Roman  law. 
Its  professors  were  liable  to  the  charge  of  high  treason.  They 
were  stigmatized  as  irreligiosi — hastes  CcBsariim,  hostes  jjopuli 
Roniani. 

Could  any  one  unacquainted  with  the  true  nature  of  Christi- 
anity have  foreseen  the  ominous  clouds  which  were  to  gather 
around  her,  and  the  tempests  of  fire  and  blood  which  were  to  burst 
upon  her,  during  the  long  night  of  her  affliction,  he  would  have 
deemed  it  impossible  for  her,  even  to  maintain  an  existence  upon 
earth — he  would  have  predicted  her  speedy  and  utter  annihila- 
tion. 

In  this  our  happy  land,  where  none  {as  yet)  dare  lay  trammels 
on  freedom  of  opinion,  and  where  the  expression,  j^Grseciition  for 
conscience'  sake,  is  hardly  understood — since  none  have  any  ex- 
perience of  its  meaning — we  can  form  but  an  inadequate  concep- 
tion of  the  trials  of  those  whose  lives  were  liable  at  any  moment 
to  be  terminated  by  bloody  martyrdom — who  in  professing  the 
name  of  Christ,  provoked  the  wrath  of  principahties  and  powers 
— who  had  to  pass  by  the  stake  on  their  way  to  the  communion 
table.  When  the  world  respects  the  rites  and  institutions  of  reli- 
gion, it  is  an  easy  matter  to  assume  the  name  of  Christian.  But 
the  profession  of  Christianity  is  a  very  different  thing,  when  the 
official  is  seen  disentangling  the  thongs  of  the  knotted  lash — when 
the  headsman  runs  his  nail  over  the  keen  edge  of  the  gleaming 
axe — when  the  torturer  stirs  the  fagots  under  the  red  bars  of  the 
iron  griddle — when  the  executioner  jags  the  nails,  and  clanks  the 
spikes  which  are  to  mangle  while  they  transfix  the  hands  and 
feet  to  the  cross — when  the  hungry  lion  howls  round  the  amphi- 
theatre— and  famished  dogs  stand  ready  to  gnaw  the  skulls  which 
roll  from  the  dripping  scaffold — ah  !  then  it  is  a  different  matter  to 
espouse  the  cause  which  exposes  its  professor  to  terrors  hke  these. 
But  for  the  testimony  of  faithful  history,  we  would  not  believe 
that  Satanic  malice  could  invent  tortures,  or  that  hellish  cruelty 
could  have  been  so  unfeeling  as  to  inflict  torments,  such  as  Chris- 
tians of  every  age  and  sex  were  then  compelled  to  suffer.  It  was 
not  the  terror  of  death — but  the  death  of  terror,  which  then 


THE  SUCCESS   OF  CHRISTIANITY.  233 

affrighted  the  soul.  And  if  according  to  the  testimony  of  Lac- 
tantius  there  were  instances  in  which  magistrates  boasted  that 
during  their  wliole  administration  they  had  put  no  Christians  to 
death,  let  Lactantius  explain  the  secret  of  their  boast,  and  inform 
us  what  credit  is  to  be  given  to  those  who  uttered  it.  He  can 
teach  us  that  there  are  punishments  worse  than  death — that  the 
most  savage  executioners  are  those  who  have  resolved  not  to  kill 
— that  ihe  most  dreadful  of  all  sufferings  are  those  which  are  dis- 
guised under  the  name  of  clemency.  "They  give  orders,"  says 
he,  "  that  strict  care  be  taken  of  the  tortured,  that  their  limbs 
may  be  repaired  for  other  racks,  and  their  blood  recruited  afresh 
for  other  punishments  !"  Knowing  that  death  would  be  a  release 
to  the  sufferer,  and  that  it  would  confer  on  him  the  glorious  crown 
of  martyrdom,  and  admit  him  to  the  reward  of  the  blessed,  "they 
inflict,"  he  adds,  "  the  most  exquisite  pains  on  the  body,  and  are 
only  soHcitous  lest  the  tortured  victim  should  expire  !"  So  great 
was  the  variety  of  the  tortures  invented  for  them,  that  Domitius 
Ulpianus,  a  celebrated  lawyer,  wrote  seven  books  descriptive  of 
the  different  punishments  that  Christians  ought  to  have  inflicted 
on  them.  But  if  occasional  instances  occurred  in  which  humane 
and  justice-loving  magistrates,  yielding  to  the  natural  sentiments 
of  pity,  were  willing,  with  Trajan,  to  advise  that  Christians  should 
not  be  sought  for,  and  that  only  such  as  were  apprehended  should 
be  capitally  punished — yet  there  were  no  such  restraints  upon  the 
blind  fury  of  the  populace,  whose  appetite  for  blood  was  only 
whetted  by  each  fresh  view  of  the  gory  scaffold  and  the  crimson 
sands  of  the  arena. 

But  why  should  we  dwell  upon  details  which  sicken  the  heart 
and  harrow  the  feelings?  It  is  sufficient  to  observe,  that  thou- 
sands upon  thousands  were  the  victims  of  those  persecutions,  and 
that  the  whole  power  of  the  Roman  Empire,  which  had  been  suf- 
ficient to  subdue  the  world,  was  exhausted  in  the  effort  to  sub- 
due the  Church.  And  here  a  new  phenomenon  engages  our 
attention.  These  persecutions,  so  far  from  extinguishing  the 
Christian  name  and  cause,  served  only  to  give  to  both  new  honors 
and  triumphs.  If  power  smiled  upon  the  Church,  it  grew — if 
power  frowned  upon  the  Church,  it  grew  still  faster,  and  amidst 
indescribable  terrors  advanced  with  a  heroism  which  could  "  smile 
at  the  drawn  dagger,  and  defy  its  point."  Amid  the  dark  glooms 
of  persecution,  there  blazed  forth  the  burning  and  shining  lights 
of  the  world.     The  heroism  of  the  soldier  who  fights  in  the  pres- 


234  THE  SUCCESS  OF   CHRISTIANITY. 

ence  of  thousands,  whose  victoiy  is  celebrated  by  a  nation's  accla- 
mations, or  whose  fall  is  hallowed  by  a  nation's  tears,  is  nothing 
to  the  heroism  which  supported  the  primitive  martyrs  through 
long  months,  and  weary  years  of  imprisonment,  and  which  in- 
spired them  with  a  holy  serenity  when  they  stood  upon  the  scaf- 
fold, surrounded,  not  by  admiring  and  applauding  thousands,  but 
by  the  bootings  and  execrations  of  the  infuriated  rabble. 

Do  you  wish  for  the  most  illustrious  examples  of  unshaken- for- 
titude which  the  world  has  known?  Then  search  not  for  them 
on  the  bloody  deck  or  on  the  embattled  field — but  go  to  the  deserts 
to  which  the  saints  have  been  exiled — to  the  dungeons  in  which 
they  have  been  immured — to  the  funeral  piles  from  which  they 
liave  ascended  in  chariots  of  fire,  and  there  behold  displays  of  true 
valor,  infinitely  transcending  the  bravery  of  those  who  seek  the 
bubble  reputation  at  tlie  cannon's  mouth,  or  who  rush  on  death, 
amid  the  clangor  of  trumpets,  and  the  thunder  of  artillery  ! 

The  resignation  of  the  martyr  was  no  sullen  stoicism  yielding 
to  inevitable  necessity.  It  was  not  the  savage  pride  of  the  Indian 
at  the  stake,  who  dies,  and  makes  no  sign  of  inward  agony.  It 
was  cheerful  acquiescence  in  the  will  of  Providence.  It  was  the 
deep  and  beautiful  tranquillity  of  those  who  believed  that  to  die. 
in  the  arms  of  Jesus,  was  to  live  forever. 

Like  the  trees  which  yield  their  precious  gums,  only  when  their 
sides  are  gashed — like  the  palm  which  lifts  its  head  highest  when 
the  greatest  weight  is  laid  upon  it — like  the  burning  forest,  which 
kindles  with  fiercer  flame  just  as  the  tempest  beats  upon  it — so 
Christianity,  under  the  sword,  imder  the  heel,  under  the  storm  of 
persecution  only  the  more  mightily  prevailed  and  grew.  The  good 
seed  of  the  gospel  had  been  sown  over  the  field  of  the  world,  and 
upon  that  seed,  the  blood  of  martyrs  fell  like  fertilizing  showers — 
while  over  it  the  flame  of  persecution  was  but  a  torrid  sun,  quick- 
ening it  into  luxuriant  development,  and  clothing  it  with  a  brighter 
verdure. 

It  is  not  Paul  at  liberty,  but  Paul  in  chains  who  bears  testimony 
before  kings,  and  as  a  captive  makes  converts  in  Caesar's  house- 
hold. 

The  enemies  of  Wiclif,  years  after  his  death,  ordered  that  his 
remains  should  be  disinterred  and  scattered.  The  more  eflfectually 
to  effect  this  purpose,  his  ashes  were  cast  into  one  of  the  branches 
of  the  river  Avon,  and  thus,  says  old  Fuller,  "  this  brook  did  con- 
vey his  ashes  into  the  Avon — and  the  Avon  into  the  Severn — and 


THE   SUCCESS   OF   CHRISTIANITY.  235 

the  Severn  into  the  narrow  sea,  and  this  into  the  wide  ocean— 
and  so  the  ashes  of  WicUf  are  the  emblem  of  his  doctrine,  wiiich 
is  now  dispersed  all  the  world  over."  So  too  in  primitive  times, 
the  whirlwind  of  persecution  scattered  the  good  seed  wherever 
there  was  a  soil  on  which  it  could  fall,  and  not  only  did  it  germi- 
nate in  rich  luxuriance  on  the  banks  of  fertile  rivers,  and  on  the 
shores  of  sunny  islands,  but  far  away  in  the  distant  desert,  there 
was  the  bloom  and  fragrance  of  the  rose. 

No  arguments  were  so  convincing  as  the  patient  sufferings  of 
Christians,  no  miracles  so  overpowering  as  their  prayers,  invoking 
blessings  on  the  heads  of  their  tormentors. 

Do  mail-clad  soldiers,  inured  to  the  atrocities  of  war,  behold  a 
young  and  beautiful  female,  possessed  of  all  those  charms  which 
poets  delight  to  celebrate,  and  sculptors  to  perpetuate,  accused  of  no 
crime,  but  that  of  loving  Jesus  of  Nazareth,  do  these  men  of  iron 
mould,  behold  her  driven  through  the  streets  of  Rome  stripped  of 
her  modest  veil,  scourged  as  she  goes,  and  scarred  with  hot  irons, 
until  she  sinks  in  the  arms  of  death,  with  murmurs  of  pity  and 
forgiveness  upon  her  lips,  and  triumph  in  her  eyes — then  these 
before  unmoved  and  prayerless  men  kneel  down  in  the  streets,  and 
declare  that  if  such  are  the  victories  of  the  Christian  faith,  they 
too  are  the  disciples  of  Jesus,  henceforth  and  forever — and  there 
beside  the  body  of  the  murdered  girl,  they  swear  allegiance  to  the 
cause  for  which  she  suffered  martyrdom. 

Does  a  little  boy  charged  only  with  loving  him  who  took  little 
children  to  his  arms  and  to  his  heart,  clasp  his  hands  together  as 
he  is  fastened  to  the  stakd,  and  sing  his  infant  hymn  as  the  flames 
kindle  around  him,  and  pray  to  Jesus  not  to  desert  him  in  the 
fire — there  too  is  a  spectacle  which  makes  iron-hearted  veterans 
weep — which  causes  them  to  call  upon  the  executioners  to  prepare 
the  pile  for  them  also — for  say  they,  if  a  child  can  die  thus  exult- 
ing and  go  rejoicing  to  the  skies  in  a  whirlwind  of  fire — his  faith 
must  have  come  from  the  skies  ;  let  ours  be  such  a  death,  and  our 
last  end  like  his. 

Such  was  the  result.  The  sword  of  persecution  glancing  oflf 
from  the  shield  of  Christianity,  inflicted  mortal  wounds  upon  the 
body  of  him  who  drew  it,  and  at  last  fell  broken  from  the  palsied 
arm  which  had  wielded  it. 

Such  was  the  triumph  of  Christianity  over  its  mightiest  foe. 
The  Roman  power,  before  which  the  nations  had  bowed  in  sub- 
jection, cannot  overcome  the  fishermen  of  GaHlee,  but  is  conquered 


286  THE  SUCCESS  OF   CHRISTIANITY. 

by  them.  Historians  have  made  the  success  of  Alexander  in 
subduing  the  Persian  empire  with  an  army  of  thirty  thousand, 
the  theme  of  their  glowing  eulogies — but  what  was  this  to  the 
achievements  of  one  little  band  of  Apostles  ? 

Christianity  without  arms,  without  allies,  without  wealth,  with- 
out influence,  without  worldly  allurements,  goes  forth  from  its 
lowly  shed  in  Bethlehem — seizes  upon  Jerusalem,  overcomes  An- 
tioch,  Ephesus,  Corinth,  Alexandria,  Rome — overturns  idol,  altar, 
and  temple — sweeps  away  the  religious  formations  of  centuries — 
prostrates  ail  enemies  in  the  dust — places  its  foot  upon  the  neck  of 
persecution — ascends  the  imperial  throne,  and  gives  laws  to  the  sub- 
jugated nations.  Here  is  a  mystery  demanding  a  solution.  Here  is 
an  effect,  a  stupendous  effect,  produced  without  any  visible  agency  or 
discovered  natural  cause,  at  all  adequate  to  such  a  result.  Here  is  a 
consummation  attained  in  defiance  of  all  the  ordinary  laws  which 
control  the  changes  of  society,  in  opposition  to  all  the  principles 
which  govern  the  developments  of  human  affairs.  Behold  the 
Christian  Church — a  symmetrical  edifice — not  a  heap  of  build- 
ing materials — but  a  structure,  well  cemented,  admirabl}''  propor- 
tioned, and  garnished  after  the  similitude  of  a  palace ;  exhibiting 
in  all  its  parts  evidences  of  deep  design,  and  matchless  skill,  and 
resistless  power.  Whose  hands  reared  these  walls,  5^et  strength- 
ening, yet  rising,  waiting  only  for  the  capstone,  and  the  accompa- 
nying shoutings  of  a  multitude  which  no  man  can  number  ?  Who 
is  the  designer  and  builder  of  this  temple  ?  The  Infidel  as  well 
as  the  Christian  is  bound  to  answer  this  question. 

The  Christian  delights  to  trace  in  eveVy  polished  stone^  in  every 
pillar  and  battlement  of  this  august  edifice,  the  handiwork  &f  a 
Divine  Architect.  He  clearly  sees  in  all  the  mighty  changer ,  and 
revolutions  which  Christianity  has  effected  upon  the  earth, 

"  The  unambiguous  footsteps  of  the  God 
Who  gives  its  lustre  to  an  insect's  wing, 
And  wheels  his  throne  upon  the  rolling  worlds." 

And  what  is  the  response  of  the  Infidel  ?  We  have  it  in  th&  words 
of  one  who  devoted  the  best  powers  of  his  brilliant  genius,  and 
the  best  years  of  his  laborious  life  to  the  investigation.  Gibbon 
has  professed  to  solve  the  mystery  of  the  triumph  of  Christianity, 
without  the  intervention  of  a  God.  To  liis  solution  infidelity  has 
never  suggested  an  amendment.  AVith  what  success  he  has  ac- 
complished his  undertaking  we  will  proceed  to  determine. 


THE  SUCCESS  OF  CHRISTIANITY.  237 


11. 


Were  an  infidel,  possessed  of  the  combined  experience  and  cun- 
ning of  all  other  infidels,  to  devote  the  best  talents  of  liis  life  to 
the  elaboration  of  the  most  successful  and  irresistible  method  for 
bringing  Christianity  into  disrepute,  his  deliberately  matured  and 
perfected  plan  would  doubtless  be  to  write  a  history  of  some 
prominent  empire  of  the  earlier  centuries,  in  which  he  would  in- 
troduce, incidentally,  and  with  apparent  respect,  an  account  of  the 
origin  and  primitive  triumphs  of  Christianity,  In  the  prosecu- 
tion of  his  work,  we  would  never  find  him  directly  denying  the 
facts  of  the  evangelical  narrative,  or  openly  assailing  its  doctrines, 
by  argument  or  by  ridicule,  but  contenting  himself  wnth  placing 
the  facts  in  such  a  light  as  to  tempt  his  readers  to  question  and 
deride  them — avoiding  all  manifestation  of  a  partisan  spirit,  and 
affecting  the  dignity  of  a  candid  and  ingenuous  inquirer  after 
truth — carefully  guarding  against  the  appearance  of  prejudice  and 
levity,  yet  under  the  guise  of  a  grave  and  respectful  witness,  per- 
petually dealing  in  insinuations  and  a  latent  irony,  provocative  of 
distrust  and  merriment  in  the  minds  of  others — never  inventing 
calumnies,  yet  adroitly  and  with  seeming  reluctance  retaihng 
calumnies  already  invented — presenting  in  a  plausible  light  the 
objections  of  the  skeptic,  and  appending  replies  less  impressive 
than  the  cavils — infusing  a  full  measure  of  the  bane,  and  but  a 
small  modicum  of  the  antidote — too  sedate  to  be  witty  himself, 
yet  possessed  of  an  ingenuity  so  rare,  as  to  preserve  his  own  grav- 
ity, and  yet  be  the  cause  of  wit  in  other  men — never  directly 
stating  his  own  inferences,  yet  suggesting  the  train  of  reasoning 
which  would  inevitably  lead  his  readers  to  make  the  desired  in- 
ference for  themselves — so  cunningly  summing  up  the  evidence 
for  and  against  the  credibility  of  the  sacred  narrative,  as  to  create 
an  impression  of  his  own  impartiality,  and  at  the  same  time  to 
leave  an  overwhelming  weight  in  the  scale  of  incredibility — ver- 
bally admitting  the  divine  origin  of  the  Christian  religion,  yet  ex- 
hausting all  the  resources  of  genius  and  erudition,  in  making  it 
actually  apparent  that  secondary,  or  merely  human  instrumen- 
talities, were  sufficient  to  account  for  all  its  triumphs  !  Such 
would  be  the  most  unanswerable,  and  the  most  dangerous  of  all 
assaults  upon  the  Christian  faith. 


288  THE   SUCCESS    OF   CHRISTIANITY. 

The  author  of  "The  Decline  and  Fall  of  the  Roman  Empire,' 
brought  with  him  to  his  task  a  combination  of  qualifications 
such  as  rarely  falls  to  the  lot  of  any  historian.  Possessing  a 
mind  stored  with  the  choice  treasures  of  ancient  and  modern 
learning,  a  genius  singularly  patient  in  research,  a  memory 
wonderfully  retentive,  an  industry  which  never  seemed  to  flag, 
united  to  a  facility  of  expression  which  always  rendered  his 
meaning  clear,  notwithstanding  a  tendency  to  a  style  somewhat 
elaborate  in  its  structure,  and  gorgeous  in  its  coloring, — he  chose 
for  the  exercise  of  these  powers,  a  theme  unrivalled  in  its  dignity, 
and  without  a  parallel  in  its  dramatic  interest.  The  result  of  his 
labors,  was  a  history  which  for  excellence  of  arrangement,  com- 
prehensiveness of  design,  and  vividness  of  impression,  entitles  its 
author  to  rank  among  the  most  eminent  historians  either  of 
ancient  or  of  modern  times.  In  the  prosecution  of  a  design  so 
vast  as  that  of  representing  by  a  panoramic  view  the  decline  and 
fall  of  the  greatest  power  that  ever  bestrode  the  world — and  then 
upon  its  ruins,  the  rise  of  new  empires,  and  of  a  new  civiliza- 
tion— events  affecting  nearly  every  nation  of  the  earth,  and  re- 
quiring centuries  for  their  enactment — it  was  impossible  for  the 
historian  to  overlook  the  influence  of  one  BQighty  and  ever-promi- 
nent agent  in  the  development  of  these  great  issues.  That 
"  pure  and  humble  religion"  which  he  says,  "  insinuated  itself 
into  the  minds  of  men,"  but  which  did  not,  as  he  states,  grow  up 
"  in  silence  and  obscurity,"  until  its  triumphs  were  complete,  but 
which  on  the  contrary,  from  its  very  birth,  and  in  all  places, 
aroused  the  passions  and  obtruded  itself  upon  the  notice  of  men 
— this  new  and  powerful  agitator,  must  have  attracted  his  atten- 
tion in  every  age  and  field  of  his  investigations.  A  historian  so 
philosophic  in  his  character,  could  neither  avoid  the  notice  nor 
the  explanation,  of  so  singular  a  phenomenon.  Christianity 
claimed  a  divine  origin,  and  professed  to  owe  its  extension  to  a 
divine  power.  The  historian  was  compelled,  therefore,  either  to 
admit  these  assumptions,  or  denying  them,  to  assign  some  satis- 
factory explanation  of  an  anomaly,  which,  otherwise,  would  have 
remained  inexplicable.  The  first,  he  does  not  presume  directly 
to  do.  He  nowhere  explicitly  denies  to  Christianity  a  divine 
original.  On  the  contrary,  to  his  own  question,  "  By  what  means 
did  the  Christian  faith  obtain  so  remarkable  a  victory  over  the 
established  rehgions  of  the  earth,"  he  replies,  "To  this  inquiry  an 
obvious  and  satisfactory   answer  may  be  returned,   that  it  was 


THE   SUCCESS   OP   CHRISTIANITY.  230 

owing  to  the  convincing  evidence  of  the  doctrine  itself,  and  to  the 
overruling  providence  of  its  great  Author,"  Had  his  inquiry  been 
satisfied  with  this  solution,  and  had  he  proceeded  to  illustrate  the 
wisdom  of  divine  providence  in  causing  all  human  instrumental- 
ities to  subserve  his  plans  for  the  government  of  the  world,  and 
for  the  establishment  of  the  Church,  then  every  Christian  would 
have  been  grateful  for  the  pious  efforts  of  a  great  writer,  making 
history  the  worthy  vehicle  of  vindicating  the  ways  of  God  to  men, 
and  of  tracing  his  hand  in  all  the  changes  which  take  place  in 
human  affairs. 

But  our  historian  having  exhausted  his  candor  by  one  admis- 
sion, immediately  proceeds  to  vitiate  the  force  of  that  admission, 
by  assigning  certain  causes  merely  secondary  and  human,  with 
which  to  account  for  all  the  triumphs  of  religion,  without  the  in- 
tervention of  a  God.  If  these  natural  causes  are  of  themselves 
sufficient  to  solve  the  enigma,  then  a  recognition  of  the  agency 
of  any  great  first  cause,  is  a  work  of  supererogation — and  only 
confirms  the  propriety  of  the  advice, 

Nee  Deus  intersit  nisi  dignus  vindice  nodus. 

Nor  is  this  all.  Our  author  having  excluded  all  supernatural 
machinery  from  his  drama,  proceeds  to  impugn  the  characters  of 
the  acknowledged  actors,  and  through  them,  the  character  of 
their  principles.  With  a  generous  regret,  accompanied  by  what 
would  have  been  a  sigh,  had  it  not  been  converted  into  a  sneer, 
he  "  must  leave,"  as  he  remarks,  "  to  the  theologian,  the  pleasing 
task  of  describing  religion  arrayed  in  her  native  purity,"  while 
he  himself  discharges  the  more  "  melancholy  duty  of  the  histo- 
rian, which  is  to  discover  the  inevitable  mixture  of  corruption, 
which  she  contracted  during  her  long  residence  upon  earth, 
among  a  weak  and  degenerate  race  of  beings."  And  then  in 
his  severe  and  scathing  exhibition  of  the  corruptions  and  super- 
stitions of  Christianity  in  every  age,  he  utterly  confounds  the 
boundaries  between  the  Church  and  the  world,  makes  the  former 
responsible  for  the  impieties  of  the  latter,  and  imputes  the  errors 
of  its  professors  to  the  imperfections  of  Christianity  itself,  which, 
he  gently  insinuates,  may  after  all  have  had  its  birth  in  some 
Theological  Utopia,  whose  golden  age  coincided  with  that  of 
Pagan  Mythology. 

In  all  the  covert  and  decorously-worded  assaults  of  this  writer, 
there  is  so  little  positive  assertion,  and  so  much  latent  insinua- 


240  THE  SUCCESS  OF  CHRISTIANITY. 

lion,  accompanied  with  well-dissembled  candor,  that  the  difficulty 
of  counteracting  his  dangerous  policy  arises  not  so  much  from 
what  is  boldly  expressed  as  from  what  is  evidently  intended,  not 
so  much  from  his  own  recorded  deductions,  as  from  the  inferences 
to  which  he  adroitly  leads  the  mind  of  his  reader.  This  pohcy 
is  unquestionably  the  perfection  of  infidel  art.  That  brazen, 
rampant,  domineering  infidelity,  which  at  once  arouses  and 
alarms  every  innate  religious  sentiment  of  the  human  bosom, 
and  which  excites  all  the  enthusiasm  of  the  popular  faith,  must, 
in  the  end,  strengthen  the  cause  which  it  thus  rudely  aims  to 
overthrow ;  but  that  creeping,  cringing,  cunning  thing,  which 
deals  in  inuendo,  and  suggestion  ;  which  dreads  nothing  so  much 
as  manly,  earnest  inquiry  leading  the  unbeliever  to  doubt  his 
own  skepticism  ;  which  insinuates  itself  along  a  tortuous  and 
noiseless  way,  sensitive,  watchful,  crafty, 

"  With  eye  of  lynx,  and  ear  of  stag, 
And  footfall  like  the  snow — " 

this  is  the  infidelity  which  accomplishes  its  deadly  mission  before 
its  presence  is  either  dreaded  or  recognized. 

It  is  painfully  curious  to  observe,  how  a  vrriter  so  singularly 
correct  and  impartial  as  Mr.  Gibbon  is,  when  uninfluenced  by 
prejudice  becomes  uncandid  and  unfair  the  instant  that  Christi- 
anity is  made  the  theme  of  his  discourse.  It  is  a  singular  psy- 
chological fact,  that  a  man  so  little  given  to  passion  or  prejudice, 
so  beloved  for  his  social  virtues,  so  eminent  for  self-control,  should, 
nevertheless,  perhaps  unconsciously  to  himself,  exhibit  to  others  a 
mental  bias  which  leads  him  invariably  to  represent,  at  least  one 
subject,  through  a  colored  and  distorted  medium.  But  however 
strange,  it  is  no  unaccountable  phenomenon.  There  is  an  influ- 
ence, not  begotten  by  philosophy,  which  clarifies  even  the  intel- 
lect, where  spiritual  truth  is  the  object  of  its  perception.  There 
is  a  spirit  which 

"  Doth  prefer 
Above  all  temples  the  upright  heart — "' 

and  which  does  not  shed  its  illuminating  power  uf  on  the  under- 
standing, when  man's  moral  nature  is  not  in  unison  with  the 
divine.  Gibbon  does  not  present  the  only  instance  of  a  mind 
working  vigorously  and  efficiently,  when  devoted  to  other  subjects, 
yet  displaying  confusion,  and  strength  unprofitably  exerted,  when 


THE   SUCCESS   OF  CHRISTIANITY.  241 

Christianity  is  the  object  of  its  contemplation.  If  the  most  con- 
vincing evidence  of  this  moral  inability  to  be  candid  and  impar- 
tial when  an  uncongenial  theme  is  the  subject  of  consideration  be 
demanded,  we  have  it  in  the  immediate  change  of  tone  and  tem- 
per which  we  discover  in  our  author,  when  he  passes  from  the 
department  of  profane  to  that  of  ecclesiastical  history,  from  the 
delineation  of  the  character  of  a  distinguished  pagan  to  that  of  a 
distinguished  Christian.  He  can  find  it  in  his  heart  to  apologize 
for  the  superstition,  licentiousness,  and  cruelties  of  paganism,  but 
he  scans  Christianity  with  a  severe  and  jealous  eye.  He  waxes 
warm  and  eloquent  in  his  eulogium  of  the  noble  bearing  of  the 
heathen  soldier,  but  there  is  no  impassioned  burst  of  enthusiasm 
in  his  recital  of  the  touching  resignation,  and  undaunted  firmness 
of  the  Christian  martyr.  The  devoted  allegiance,  the  all-sacrific- 
ing loyalty  of  the  followers  of  the  Roman  eagles,  fire  his  heart 
with  admiration,  and  impart  new  fervor  to  his  splendid  diction,  but 
he  is  frigid  and  insensate,  or  quibbling  and  querulous  when  he 
alludes  to  the  zealous  attachment,  and  death-despising  fidelity  of 
the  soldiers  of  the  cross.  While  the  exploits  of  an  Alaric,  an 
Attila,  a  Zengis,  or  a  Tamerlane,  awaken  all  the  magic  power  of 
his  pen,  he  sees  nothing  noteworthy  in  the  career  of  a  Paul,  a 
Stephen,  an  Ignatius,  or  a  Polycarp. 

Milman  finely  says,  "  The  successes  of  barbarous  energy  and 
brute  force  call  forth  all  the  consummate  skill  of  composition  : 
while  the  moral  triumphs  of  Christian  benevolence,  the  tranquil 
heroism  of  endurance,  the  blameless  purity,  the  contempt  of 
guilty  fame,  and  of  honors  destructive  to  the  human>  race,  which, 
had  they  assumed  the  proud  name  of  philosophy,  would  have 
been  blazoned  in  his  brightest  words,  because  they  own  religion 
■as  their  principle — sink  into  narrow  asceticism.  The  glories  of 
Christianity,  in  short,  touch  no  chord  in  the  heart-  of  this  writer ; 
his  imagination  remains  unkindled  ;  his  words,  though  they  main- 
tain their  stately  and  measured  march,  have  become  cool,  argu- 
mentative, and  inanimate.  Who  would  obscure  one  hue  of  that 
gorgeous  coloring  in  which  Gibbon  has  invested  the  dying  forms 
of  Paganism,  or  darken  one  paragraph  in  his  splendid  view  of  the 
rise  and  progress  of  Mahometanism  ?  But  who  would  not  have 
wished  the  same  justice  done  to  Christianity?" 

But  in  the  place  of  devoting  his  noble  energies  to  the  celebra- 
tion of  the  virtues  of  confessors  and  martyi^s — the  elite  of  the 
earth — he  gives  his  pity  or  his  scorn  to  these,  and  reserves  his 

16 


242  THE   SUCCESS   OP    CHRISTIANITY. 

admiral-ion  for  those  who  bounded  all  their  aims  and  aspirations 
by  the  narrow  horizon  of  life  — and  coming  forth  in  the  pomp  of 
a  diction  that  "  dazzles  to  blind,"  he  seems  to  cast  even  the  beau- 
tiful vesture  of  truth  around  sentiments  false  and  dangerous. 

With  such  address,  and  animated  by  such  a  spirit,  he  proceeds 
(o  exhaust  the  resources  of  his  ov/n  gifted  mind,  and  of  infidelity 
itself,  in  the  attempt  to  set  in  array  such  assignable  human  causes, 
as  may  forever  obviate  the  necessity  of  referring  the  triumphs  of 
Christianity  to  any  supernatural  power,  by  endeavoring  to  show 
that  it  was  propagated  in  accordance  with  the  ordinary  laws  which 
control  human  affairs,  just  as  other  systems  and  creeds  had  been, 
which  had  attained  to  great  popularity  and  power  among  the 
nations.  The  spectacle  of  one  enriched  with  extraordinary  abili- 
ties, thus  prostituting  his  genius  to  an  undertaking  so  unworthy 
of  such  endowments,  reminds  us  of  a  celebrated  description,  some 
of  whose  features,  at  least,  we  may  apply  to  our  distinguished 

author : — 

"  He  seemed 
For  dignity  composed,  and  liigh  exploit, 
But  all  was  false  and  hollow  :  thougli  bis  tongue 
Dropped  manna,  and  could  make  the  worse  appear 
The  better  reason  to  perplex  and  clash 
Maturest  counsel. 

Yet  he  pleased  the  ear 
And  with  persuasive  accents  thus  bec/an." 

"  We  may  be  permitted,"  says  Mr.  Gibbon,  "  though  with  be- 
coming submission,  to  ask,  not  indeed  what  were  the  first,  but 
what  were  the  secondary  causes  of  the  rapid  growth  of  the  Chris- 
tian church."  And  he  assigns  as  the  first,  "  The  inflexible,  and 
if  we  may  use  the  expression,  the  intolerant  zeal  of  the  Chris- 
tians, derived,  it  is  true,  from  the  Jewish  religion,  but  purified  from 
the  narrow  and  unsocial  spirit,  which  instead  of  inviting,  had  de- 
terred the  Gentiles  from  embracing  the  law  of  Moses." 

It  is  conceded  that  the  zeal  of  the  primitive  heralds  of  the 
(Jospel  was  steadfast,  ardent,  undaunted  by  perils,  and  uncon- 
(juerable  by  persecution  ;  but  there  is  not  a  shadow  of  a  reason  for 
deriving  this  zeal  from  a  Jewish  origin.  The  early  advocates  of 
Christianity  belonged,  most  of  them,  to  the  Jewish  race — but  to 
ascribe  the  spirit  which  imbued  them,  as  soon  as  they  embraced 
a  new  faith,  to  their  old  principles,  is  as  miserable  an  absurdity, 
as  it  would  be  to  impute  the  hallowed  enthusiasm  of  modern  con- 
verts fj-om  lieathenism,  to  their  previously  bigoted  and  intolerant 


THE  SUCCESS  OF  CHRISTIANITY.  243 

zeal  for  idolatry.  The  Apostles  ascribed  their  fervor  to  their  con- 
fident belief  in  the  resurrection  of  Christ,  and  to  their  warm, 
constraining,  entrancing  love  for  him.  But  whatever  its  origin 
might  be,  its  manifestations  were  very  unamiable  in  Jewish  eyes, 
for  it  was  directed  against  Jewish  as  well  as  against  Gentile  pre- 
judices, and  was  perhaps  even  more  offensive  to  the  Hebrew,  than 
to  the  Greek  or  barbarian.  The  zeal  of  Peter  would  indeed  im- 
pel him  to  the  most  active  efforts  for  the  salvation  of  his  country- 
men, but  was  it  his  fiery  intolerance  which  made  him  so  success. 
ful  in  gaining  proselytes  among  them?  When  he  stood  in  the 
very  city  which  had  witnessed  the  crucifixion  of  Christ,  and  ad- 
dressed the  very  men  who  had  enacted  that  tragedy,  and  said, 
"  whom  ye  by  wicked  hands  have  crucified  and  slain,"  did  the 
severity  of  the  charge /W^^/ew  them  into  faith  in  the  victim  of 
their  rage  ?  Or  was  there  such  an  attractive  power  in  this  accu- 
sation as  to  bring  over  thousands  of  them  in  a  single  hour  to  the 
Christian  standard  ?  To  derive  such  an  effect  from  such  a  cause 
as  the  mere  zeal,  and  above  all  the  injlexihle  and  intolerant  zeal 
of  the  Apostle,  would  be  a  miserable  iio?i  seqiiitur.  The  truth  is, 
that  neither  the  Jews  who  believed,  nor  the  Jews  who  rejected,  nor 
the  Apostle  who  preached  Christ,  ever  thought  of  ascribing  such 
wonderful  results  to  blind  and  pertinacious  zeal.  And  when  the 
Apostles  turned  to  the  Gentiles,  although  they  were  still  so  inflex- 
ible in  their  principles,  and  so  intolerant  of  error,  as  to  refuse 
either  to  accommodate  the  doctrines  they  proclaimed  to  the  tastes 
of  their  hearers,  or  to  adapt  their  forms  of  worship  to  the  cherished 
preferences  of  idolaters,  yet  can  it  be  supposed  that  this  stern 
and  unyielding  attitude  was  calculated  to  conciliate  the  people 
toward  whom  it  was  assumed?  Such  a  course  was  not  only  im- 
politic, but  offensive  to  the  last  degree.  Such  have  never  been 
the  tactics  of  false  religions  in  making  aggressions  upon  any  peo- 
ple. Mahomet,  indeed,  was  intolerant  when  the  "Koran,  death, 
or  tribute,"  was  his  demand,  but  Mahomet  preached  at  the  head 
of  an  army,  and  cut  his  way  through  all  objections  with  the  edge 
of  the  scimitar.  There  is  nothing  more  surprising  in  his  rapid 
conquests,  than  in  those  of  Tamerlane  or  any  of  the  daring  mili- 
tary usurpers  who  have  so  often  changed  the  fortunes  of  the 
Eastern  world.  But  the  zeal  of  the  primitive  missionaries  was 
not  fortified  or  impelled  by  any  earthly  power.  And  exhibited  in 
a  character  so  unlovely  as  that  represented  by  our  author,  without 
any  adventitious  aid,  it  must  have  disgusted  and  repelled.    And  if 


244  THE  SUCCESS   OF  CHRISTIANITY. 

the  primitive  Christians  were,  as  Mr.  Gibbon  asserts,  "  not  less 
averse  to  the  business,  than  to  the  pleasures  of  this  world" — if 
they  "refused  to  take  any  part  in  the  civil  administration,  or  the 
military  defence  of  the  empire" — if  they  "displayed  an  indolent 
and  criminal  disregard  to  the  public  welfare" — if  they  would  not 
tolerate  the  most  innocent  amusements — if,  as  he  declares,  "  they 
shut  their  ears  against  profane  harmony  of  sounds" — if  affecting  sin- 
gularity in  personal  appearance  and  habits,  they  thought  it  sinful 
to  "shave  their  beards,"  or  sleep  on  " downy  pillows" — (because 
Jacob  had,  some  centuries  before,  reposed  his  head  one  night  upon  a 
stone,) — if  they  refused  to  mingle  with  the  heathen  either  in  the 
relations  of  business,  or  in  the  walks  of  social  life,  how  was  it  pos- 
sible for  them  to  disseminate  their  religious  opinions  ?  What  op- 
portunity could  they  have  enjoyed  for  making  proselytes  ?  What 
materials  could  their  zeal  act  upon  ?  How  could  it  expend  itself? 
Thus  pent  up,  and  yet  raging,  it  must  have  consumed  only  the 
zealot.  But  if  under  such  circumstances  of  grim  seclusion,  and 
non-communion,  they  did,  nevertheless,  by  their  mere  zeal,  suc- 
ceed in  proselyting  thousands,  there  must  have  been  some  secret 
power  in  their  zeal  transcending  the  miraculous  ! 

But  Mr.  Gibbon  overlooks  one  important  fact  in  his  argument. 
He  imputes  this  excessive  zeal  to  the  iceaker  party,  and  makes  no 
allowance  for  the  counteracting  zeal  with  which  it  would  be  met 
by  the  numerous  and  formidable  sects  which,  with  one  accord, 
bent  all  their  energies  not  only  upon  the  defeat  of  Christianity, 
but  upon  its  destruction.  Had  Judaism,  menaced  with  the  over- 
throw of  its  venerable  institutions,  its  splendid  ceremonials,  its 
imposing  temple  service,  no  conflicting  zeal?  Had  Polytheism 
with  its  threatened  loss  of  brilliant  honors,  and  unbounded 
wealth,  and  gigantic  power,  no  resilient  countervailing  zeal? 
Did  both  fall  before  the  fanatical  and  intolerant  phrensy  of  a 
feeble  and  despised  sect? 

We  have  already  admitted  that  the  propagation  of  Christianity 
was  in  a  great  measure  instrumentally  due  to  the  energetic,  per- 
severing labors  of  its  early  advocates.  But  theirs  was  a  "  zeal" 
very  different  from  the  blind  and  mad  phrensy  which  Mr.  Gibbon 
has  imputed  to  them  under  that  name.  It  was  a  rational,  well- 
founded  zeal,  tempered  with  charity,  and  attended  by  a  regard  for 
all  the  proprieties  of  life.  While  it  was  an  instrumental  cause — 
one  of  the  subordinate  agencies  employed  by  Divine  Providence 
for  the  extension  of  his  Church,  it  was  in  itself  an  effect^  produced 


THE   SUCCESS   OF   CHRISTIANITY.  245 

by  a  higher — the  highest  cause.  It  was  the  result  of  an  unal- 
terable conviction  of  the  truth  of  Christianity,  produced  by  a  divine 
influence  upon  the  minds  and  hearts  of  the  heralds  of  salvation. 
Had  it  been  anything  else — above  all  had  it  been  a  mere  emana- 
tion of  senseless  bigotry,  it  would  have  occasioned  evils  disastrous 
to  the  progress  of  religion.  It  would  have  been  regarded  only  as 
raving  fanaticism,  at  first  amusing,  then  irritating,  then  exaspera- 
ting. Had  it  been  such  a  zeal  as  that  described  by  Mr.  Gibbon, 
it  would  for  a  time,  have  produced  results  exactly  the  opposite  to 
those  ascribed  to  it,  and  then  being  unsustained  by  any  evidence 
of  the  truth  of  the  system  it  advocated,  it  would  of  itself,  like  a 
fire  unreplenis-hed  with  fuel,  have  speedily  burnt  out.  When  was 
there  ever  so  ridiculous  a  thing  known,  as  for  a  rational  man  to 
change  his  favorite  opinions,  without  any  conviction  of  their  erro- 
neousness,  merely  because  he  came  in  contact  with  a  more  obsti- 
nate man  than  himself,  of  a  different  way  of  thinking?  If  head- 
strong and  passionate  ardor  were  sufficient  to  effect  such  changes, 
then, any  Hotspur  in  controversy  might  obtain  the  victory  over  the 
most  logical  opponent,  who  chanced  to  be  less  stubborn  than  his 
adversary.  Would  Mr.  Gibbon  himself  have  abandoned  his  infi- 
delity and  become  a  champion  for  the  Christian  faith,  had  he  been 
assailed  day  by  day,  by  some  unavoidable  and  flaming  zealot  ?  If 
so,  it  is  unfortunate  that  this  expedient  was  not  adopted  to  secure 
the  services  of  so  accomplished  a  writer.  Indeed  he  was  puvsued 
by  Mr.  Davis,  of  Oxford  University,  through  all  the  devious  paths 
of  his  great  history,  and  by  that  ardent  and  pertinacious  gentleman 
attacked  on  all  sides,  yet  so  far  was  this  siege  from  making  a  con- 
vert of  Mr.  Gibbon,  that,  on  the  contrary,  it  provoked  him  to  write 
a  vindication  of  his  history,  in  which  he  manifests  no  symptoms 
of  conviction,  and  no  kind  regard  for  Mr.  Davis. 

Had  the  Apostles  gone  forth  imbued  with  the  principles,  and  gov- 
erned by  the  policy,  which  actuated  the  disciples  of  Ignatius  Loyo- 
la, instead  of  displaying  to  the  world  "  an  inflexible  and  intolerant 
zeal,"  they  would  have  adapted  their  teachings  to  the  prejudices, 
habits,  and  even  passions  of  their  proselytes.  They  would  have 
permitted  them  to  retain  their  ancient  superstitions,  merely  graft- 
ing upon  them  certain  Christian  rites  and  ceremonies.  They  would 
have  profited  by  the  credulity  of  the  ignorant,  and  flattered  the 
independent  free-thinking  of  the  educated — they  would  have  been 
severe  only  upon  the  vices  of  the  poor,  and  ever  indulgent  to  the 
inclinations  of  the  rich.     They  would  have  graduated  their  mo- 


246  THE   SUCCESS   OF   CHRISTIANITY. 

rality  to  the  age.  propensity,  and  rank  of  their  neophytes.  They 
would  have  imposed  no  heavy  burdens  either  upon  the  consciences 
or  callings  of  men — in  a  word,  they  would  have  made  it  a  very 
convenient  and  pleasant  matter  to  bear  the  Christian  yoke.  Had 
they  not  been  penetrated  and  fired  with  the  most  irresistible  con- 
viction of  their  high  and  solemn  mission,  they  never  would  have 
pursued  the  line  of  conduct  which  characterized  their  whole  career, 
nor  would  their  labors,  severe  and  unremitting  as  they  were,  have 
been  crowned  with  such  sublime  success,  had  they  not  been  owned 
and  signally  blessed  of  Heaven.  Their  zeal  was  a  divinely  inspi- 
red zeal,  and  mighty  through  God  to  the  pulling  down  of  strong 
holds. 

The  second  reason  which  our  author  assigns  for  the  rapid  propa- 
gation of  Christianity,  is,  "  The  doctrine  of  a  future  life,  improved  by 
every  additional  circumstance  which  could  give  weight  and  efficacy 
to  that  important  truth."  He  specifies  these  favoring  circumstan- 
ces. One  of  them  he  declares  to  be  "  the  universal  belief  that  the 
end  of  the  world,  and  the  kingdom  of  Heaven  were  at  hand" — the 
hourly  "  expectation  of  that  moment  when  the  globe  itself,  and  all 
the  various  races  of  mankind,  should  tremble  at  the  appearance 
of  their  Divine  Judge."  But  from  whom  could  the  early  Chris- 
tians have  derived  such  an  apprehension  of  the  impending  de- 
struction of  the  world?  Not  from  the  Author  of  Christianity 
himself,  for  he,  when  speaking  of  the  time  of  Judgment,  expressly 
declares,  "  Of  that  day,  and  of  that  hour,  knoweth  no  man, 
no  not  the  angels  which  are  in  Heaven."  Nor  could  it  have 
been  derived  from  the  chief  of  the  Apostles,  for  his  unequivocal 
language  is,  "  We  beseech  you  brethren  by  the  coming  of  our  Lord 
Jesus,  that  ye  be  not  soon  shaken  in  mind,  nor  troubled,  neither  in 
spirit,  nor  by  word,  nor  by  letter  as  from  us,  as  that  the  day  of  the 
Lord  is  at  hand.  Let  no  man  deceive  you  by  any  means."  He 
then  proceeds  to  enumerate  certain  great  events  which  must  oc- 
cur before  the  coming  of  that  day — events,  which  are  having  their 
fulfilment  even  in  our  own  generation.  If  the  Apostle  Paul  had 
110  supernatural  insight  into  futurity,  then  he  accidentally  pre- 
dicted a  state  of  affairs  which  actually  existed  1800  years  after  the 
prophecy  was  uttered.  But  if  these  coming  events  were  supernat- 
urally  revealed  to  him,  then  he  could  not  have  been  deluded  by 
the  belief  of  the  speedy  dissolution  of  nature,  and  his  statements 
show  how  anxious  he  was  to  guard  others  from  delusion. 

Another  of  Mr.  Gibbon's  "  weighty  circumstances"   which  he 


THE   SUCCESS   OF   CHKISTIAXITY.  247 

supposes  gave  efficacy  to  the  doctrine  of  a  future  life,  was,  the 
behef  tliat  the  personal  advent  of  Christ  was  at  hand,  (a  millen- 
nium wholly  unlike  that  which  is  still  anticipated,  when  Christ 
shall  extend  his  spiritual  kingdom  over  all  the  earth) — "  Vv'hen  the 
saints  who  had  escaped  death,  or  who  had  been  miraculously  pre- 
served, w^ould  reign  on  earth  until  the  time  appointed  for  the  last 
and  general  resurrection."  That  such  an  expectation  was  in  ex- 
istence^ is  evident  from  the  fact  that  some  of  the  most  eminent 
writers  in  the  primitive  church  positively  denied  and  refuted  such 
a  doctrine.  But  it  was  never  taught  by  a  single  Apostle,  nor  gen- 
erally received  by  the  Church. 

These  "weighty  circumstances"  which  Mr.  Gibbon  would  con- 
vert into  supports  for  his  proposition,  are  themselves  unsupported, 
and  must  fall  to  the  ground.  And  as  to  the  proposition  itself,  if 
no  divine  power  attended  the  proclamation  of  a  future  life,  what  in- 
duced such  multitudes  to  believe  it?  There  being  no  associated 
circumstances  arising  from  the  delusions  of  men  to  give  it  efficacy, 
it  was  the  simple  doctrine  of  a  future  life,  which  myriads  em- 
braced. Why  were  they  overcome  by  the  presentation  of  this 
truth?  What  irresistible  influence  accompanied  its  publication? 
Are  we  to  look  back  to  the  first  cause  assigned  by  Mr.  Gibbon  for 
that  mysterious  influence?  Was  it  begotten  by  the  "intolerant 
zeal"  of  the  Apostles  ?  Was  this  also  potent  in  constraining  a 
whole  generation  to  embrace  their  revelations  respecting  futurity  ? 

But  our  author  overlooks  some  great  obstacles  to  the  spread  of 
such  a  doctrine.  The  first  is  that  the  Apostles  made  this  doc- 
trine dependent  on  the  resurrection  of  the  dead. 

In  an  age  when  the  immortality  of  the  soul  was  scarcely  be- 
lieved, no  assertion  could  have  been  more  provocative  of  ridicule  and 
scorn,  than  that  the  bod-y  which  had  seen  corruption,  and  returned 
to  its  native  earth,  would  be  revived,  reanimated,  and  clothed 
with  immortality.  It  was  the  annunciation  of  this  doctrine 
which  caused  the  Apostle  to  be  regarded  as  a  madman  by  the 
Roman.  And  when  he  visited  Athens,  whose  inhabitants  were 
ever  eager  "  to  hear  some  new  thing,"  he  presented  to  their  minds 
a  novelty  too  strange  and  startling.  When  he  spoke  of  Jesus 
and  the  resurrection,  they  characterized  him  as  a  "  setter  forth  of 
strange  gods"  So  vague  were  their  ideas  of  his  meaning,  that 
they  seem  to  have  regarded  the  resurrection  (^Jfaaiauis)  as  one 
divinity,  and  Jesus  as  another,  and  when  more  fully  informed  as 


248  THE   SUCCESS   OF   CHRISTIANITY. 

to  the  Apostle's  meaning,  they  turned  away  in  disgust  from  a 
tenet  so  incredible. 

What !  were  they  to  be  told  that  the  bodies  which  had  moul- 
dered and  mingled  with  their  kindred  dust,  and  then  been  dissi- 
pated by  all  the  winds  of  heaven — that  the  bodies  whose  very 
tombs  had  crumbled  to  atoms,  and  vanished  not  only  from  the 
sight  but  from  the  remembrance  of  men — were  to  be  raised  to 
life  again  ?  Were  they  to  be  persuaded  that  the  elements  would 
ever  disgorge  the  particles  which  they  had  swallowed  up  ? — that 
not  only  the  earth,  but  that  the  sea  should  give  up  its  dead  ?  that 
the  forms  of  those  who  went  down  into  the  fathomless  caverns 
of  the  deep,  in  the  shock  of  battle  and  tempest,  would  emerge  from 
their  hidden  chambers,  and  darken  the  blue  bosom  of  the  ocean 
as  they  arose  to  be  judged  with  those  who  had  slept  in  the  earth? 
Would  the  warm  pulses  of  life  again  throb  in  the  scattered 
dust  of  Aristotle  1  Would  Socrates,  and  Plato,  and  those  ancient 
sages  who  had  indulged  rather  in  the  fond  hope,  than  in  the  con- 
fident belief  of  a  future  existence,  again  stand  erect  upon  the 
earth,  and  gaze  upon  that  sun  which  centuries  ago  had  looked 
down  upon  their  graves  ?  No,  a  doctrine  so  startling  and  in- 
credible was  worthy  only  of  mockery. 

But  there  was  another,  and  far  greater  obstacle  to  the  preva- 
lence of  such  a  view  of  a  future  life  as  that  presented  by  the 
Apostles.  The  Heaven  which  they  revealed  to  the  faith  of  mor- 
tals was  no  such  Elysium  as  that  which  mythology  had  delighted 
to  present;  no  flowery  abode  of  sensual  joys  and  pleasures  minis- 
tering to  the  natural  tastes  and  passions  of  men  ; — no  Paradise 
where  feasting  and  revelry  ruled  the  hour,  where  black-eyed  Houris 
reposed  in  every  bower,  and  whose  perfumed  air  ever  vibrated 
with  dulcet  melodies,  such  as  Mahomet  promised  to  the  faithful 
(and  of  which  he  permitted  them  to  enjoy  such  large  prelibations 
in  this  life) — but  a  world  whose  element  was  holiness,  one  which 
excluded  all  but  the  pure  in  heart,  which  did  not  offer  one  at- 
traction to  the  covetous,  the  ambitious,  the  licentious,  or  the  re- 
vengeful— one  which  could  be  attained  only  by  a  path  narrow, 
rugged,  and  difficult  of  ascent. 

Point  out  to  men  a  heaven  where  the  pleasures  of  sense  may 
be  enjoyed  in  a  more  exquisite  degree,  and  enjoyed  forever ;  a 
heaven  to  which  Dives  may  go  with  his  purple  robes  and  rosy 
wine  ;  where  all  the  natural  inclinations  and  unhallowed  propen- 
sities may  find  unbounded  gratification,  freed  from  the  restraints 


THE   SUCCESS   OF   CHRISTIANITY.  249 

of  law  and  the  checks  of  conscience  ; — and  men  will  rivet  their 
eager  eyes  upon  it,  and  if  possible  force  the  gates  and  scale  the 
ramparts  of  a  paradise  so  alluring.  But  discarding  the  doctrine 
of  a  divine  influence,  what  could  so  change  the  natural  heart  of 
man  as  to  cause  it  to  aspire  to  the  pure  spiritual  joys  of  a  heaven 
like  that  revealed  in  the  gospel  ?  Whence  did  myriads  obtain 
those  tastes  which  gave  them  a  relish  for  the  hallowed  enjoy- 
ments and  employments  of  glorified  beings?  Whence  did  im- 
pure grovelling  mortals  derive  those  qualifications  which  prepared 
them  for  the  exalted  services  of  a  world  of  purity,  for  the  dignity 
and  the  dominion  of  kings  and  priests  unto  God?  If  such  a 
heaven  became  attractive  to  the  eyes  and  hearts  of  mortals,  it 
was  because  their  eyes  were  opened,  by  some  divinely  exerted 
power,  to  the  perception  of  spiritual  beauty  to  which  they  had 
been  blind  before,  and  their  hearts  to  the  reception  and  love  of 
truths  which  otherwise  had  been  objects  of  disgust  and  aversion. 

But  Christianity  asserted  the  existence  of  a  Hell.  If  its  pic- 
ture of  heaven  was  not  calculated  to  engage  the  affections  of 
mankind,  was  there  anything  calculated  to  gain  the  credence  of 
mankind  in  its  representations  of  a  world  of  torment  and  despair? 

The  ancients  indeed  prated  of  a  Pluto  and  Tartarus,  but  be- 
fore the  publication  of  Christianity  the  belief  in  the  future  pun- 
ishment of  the  vicious  had  almost  become  obsolete,  not  only 
among  the  learned,  but  it  was  openly  denied  in  the  forum  in 
public  arguments  before  the  populace.  This  fact  Gibbon  admits, 
and  forcibly  states.  "  We  are  sufiaciently  acquainted,"  says  he, 
"  with  the  eminent  persons  who  flourished  in  the  age  of  Cicero, 
and  of  the  first  Cassars,  with  their  actions,  their  characters,  and 
their  motives,  to  be  assured  that  their  conduct  in  this  life  was 
never  regulated  by  any  serious  connection  of  the  rewards  or  pun- 
ishments of  a  future  state.  At  the  bar  and  in  the  senate  of 
Rome  the  ablest  orators  were  not  apprehensive  of  giving  offence 
to  their  hearers  by  exposing  that  doctrine  as  an  idle  and  extrava- 
gant opinion,  which  was  rejected  with  contempt  by  every  man  of 
a  liberal  education  and  understanding."  Such  being  the  state 
of  popular  feehng,  it  is  evident  that  before  such  an  article  in  the 
Christian  creed  as  the  doctrine  of  a  hell,  could  work  upon  the 
fears  of  men,  it  must  be  believed.  But  what  is  to  compel  their 
belief?  The  assertions  of  a  company  of  ignorant,  despised,  itin- 
erant Galileans  ? 

If  these  humble  fishermen  had  no  other  means  of  verifying 


250  THE   SUCCESS   OF    CHRISTIANITY. 

their  assertions  than  iheir  bare  word,  (and  what  was  that  worth, 
when  made  the  vehicle  of  a  most  improbable  and  unwelcome 
statement?)  would  it  not  excite  rather  the  taunts  than  the  ter- 
rors of  the  proud  Romans?  Would  it  not  exasperate  rather  than 
intimidate,  when  they  observed  how  their  deified  heroes  and  sages 
were  consigned  to  eternal  flames,  and  that  too  for  what  they 
esteemed  the  most  exalted  virtues?  And  if  it  was  true,  as  Mr. 
Gibbon  asserts,  that  some  of  the  early  Christians  were  weak  and 
wicked  enough,  loudly  to  rejoice  in  anticipating  the  torments  of 
unbelievers,  what  reception  would  the  whole  community  whicli 
witnessed  such  indecent  and  savage  joy,  give  to  the  doctrine  and 
its  advocates?  But  it  is  notorious  that  these  representations  of 
futurity,  improbable,  and  uncongenial  as  they  were,  did  exert  a 
controlling  influence,  a  commanding  power,  over  the  minds  and 
lives  of  thousands.  What  natural  principle  will  account  for  a 
result  so  contrary  to  all  that  human  foresight  could  predict? 
Have  we  not  here  another  mark  made  by  the  finger  of  God? 

The  third  cause  assigned  by  Mr.  Gibbon  is,  "  the  miraculous 
powers  ascribed  to  ihe  primitive  church."  Had  he  been  pleased 
to  say,  the  miraculous  powers  conferred  on  the  Church,  or  exer- 
cised by  the  Church,  then  we  could  at  once  throw  this  reason  out 
of  the  list,  for  miraculous  power  actually  possessed,  could  have 
come  only  from  God,  and  this  would  have  been  a  j)rimary  and 
not  a  "  secondary"  cause  of  the  success  of  Christianity.  But  ap- 
prehensive of  such  an  inference,  he  hastens  to  throw  every  possi- 
ble discredit  upon  the  primitive  miracles.  With  a  Hume-like 
hatred  of  miracles  he  insinuates,  although  he  does  not  assert,  that 
they  were  the  pretences  of  imposture,  and  he  labors  to  make  this 
impression  on  the  minds  of  his  readers  by  a  variety  of  ingenious 
cavils  and  cunning  suggestions,  interspersed  with  a  certain  grave 
irony. 

But  let  us  bring  the  matter  to  a  direct  issue.  The  miracles 
performed  by  the  Apostles  were  '^vrought  by  the  pov/er  of  God,  or 
they  were  the  legerdemain  of  cunning  and  wicked  impostors. 
If  they  were  produced  by  supernatural  power,  then  they  were 
real,  and  demonstrate  Christianity  to  be  of  divine  origin.  If 
they  were  the  impostures  of  men,  could  they  have  possibl}^  escaped 
detection  and  exposure?  If  any  one  chooses  to  answer  this  ques- 
tion by  asserting  that  simulated  miracles  have  been  employed 
successfully  in  imposing  upon  the  credulity  of  men,  as  in  the  case 
of  the  pagan  priests  who  made  dupes  of  the  multitude  by  their 


THE   SUCCESS   OF   CHRISTIANITY,  251 

lying  wonders,  we  reply  that  there  is  no  parallelism  in  the  two 
cases.  Pious  frauds  have  never  been  successful  except  when  they 
have  been  resorted  to  by  a  religion  already  in  power,  and  when 
exhibited  to  the  unenlightened  multitude,  already  predisposed  in 
their  favor,  and  willing  to  be  deceived.  There  is  no  analogy  be- 
tween such  shams  and  the  miracles  of  Christ  and  his  Apostles. 
They  went  unattended  by  confederates,  often  alone,  and  always 
were  surrounded  by  those  whose  prejudices  were  adverse,  and  not 
favorable.  Their  miracles  were  submitted  to  the  scrutiny  of 
envy,  interest,  wounded  pride,  and  all  the  acumen  which  the  most 
enlightened  and  skeptical  nation  in  the  world  could  bring  to  the 
investigation. 

It  is  evident,  then,  that  mere  pretension  to  miraculous  power 
would  have  been  a  suicidal  policy:  it  would  have  been  exposed 
and  rebuked ;  it  would  have  overwhelmed  the  already  despised 
Apostles  with  ignominy;  it  would  have  annihilated  the  prospects 
of  the  infant  Church.  It  has  always  been  a  ruinous  policy  when 
resorted  to  in  enlightened  communities,  even  when  a  powerful 
confederacy  has  been  formed  among  the  parties  interested,  to  give 
them  support  and  credit  among  the  people.  In  the  celebrated  case 
of  the  alleged  miracles  at  the  tomb  of  the  Abbe  Paris,  many  cir- 
cumstances conspired  to  give  them  the  greatest  possible  eclat  in 
the  community.  The  memory  of  the  Abbe  was  held  in  profound 
and  affectionate  veneration  by  the  people.  All  the  power  of  the 
adroit  and  influential  Jansenists  was  concentrated  in  the  attempt 
to  give  these  miracles  credit,  and  that  too  among  persons  pre- 
possessed in  their  favor.  And  yet  how  simple  a  matter  to  suppress 
them  !  By  order  of  the  government,  the  tomb  of  the  saint  to 
whom  these  miracles  were  ascribed,  was  concealed  by  a  wall,  and 
then — the  performance  was  ended  !  Soon  after  a  placard  was 
attached   to  the  wall,  on  which  was  written   the  witty  French 

couplet : — 

De  par  le  roy  defense  a  Dieu  • 

De  faire  miracle  en  ce  lieu, 

"  By  order  of  the  King,  God  is  prohibited  from  working  any  more 
miracles  in  this  place."  The  most  stupid  man  could  see  the  point 
of  this  epigram,  for  if  these  miracles  were  genuine,  how  could  a 
brick-mason  shut  out  Deity?  But  thereafter  the  ashes  of  the 
Abbe  rested  in  peace,  evermore.  He  could  not  work  miracles 
through  a  wall. 

After  the  most  careful  analysis  of  Mr.  Gibbons  long  dissert-v- 


252  THE   SUCCESS   OF   CHRISTIANITY. 

tion  in  support  of  his  third  "  cause,"  we  can  discover  but  two  prop- 
ositions, with  an  inference^  which  he  only  hints  at,  but  evidently 
hopes  his  readers  will  draw  from  the  premises  which  he  furnishes 
them.  1.  If  genuine  miracles  had  been  wrought  by  the  early 
heralds  of  Christianity,  men  must  have  been  convinced  of  its  su- 
perior claims.  2.  Miraculous  powers  were  asserted  by  the  primitive 
Church,  but  never  really  possessed.  Insinuated  inference — there- 
fore, the  Church  grew  because  of  the  popular  delusion  that  it  was 
endowed  with  such  power.  A  very  unwarrantable  and  absurd 
conclusion,  indeed,  but  such  is  the  character  and  climax  of  our 
author's  logic.  We  rest  satisfied  with  another,  and  very  different 
conclusion  of  the  whole  matter — tliat  if  the  miracles  of  the  primi- 
tive Church  were  real,  they  should  have  no  place  among  Mr. 
Gibbon's  assigned  secondary  causes  ;  if  they  were  false,  they  would 
have  resulted  in  the  extinction,  and  not  in  the  extension  of  the 
Church. 

We  come  now  to  the  fourth  of  the  enumerated  causes — "  the 
pure  and  austere  morals  of  the  Christians,"  which  our  author  very 
properly  ranks  among  the  influences  which  gained  for  Christianity 
the  respect  of  mankind.  But  the  pleasure  we  experience  from 
such  an  admission  on  the  part  of  an  adversary,is  instantly  checked 
when  we  find  that  in  immediate  connection  with  this  concession, 
he  retails  the  foul  slander  of  their  enemies,  "  that  the  Christians 
allured  into  their  party  the  most  atrocious  criminals,  who,  as  soon 
as  they  were  touched  by  a  sense  of  remorse,  were  easily  persuaded 
to  wash  away  in  the  water  of  baptism,  the  guilt  of  their  past  con- 
duct, for  which  the  temples  of  their  gods  refused  to  grant  them 
any  expiation."  Mr.  Gibbon  condemns  this  calumny,  and  declares 
that  it  was  a  reproach  suggested  by  the  ignorance  or  malice  of 
infidelity.  Why  then  does  he  introduce  it  ?  How  could  he  have 
been  so  unguarded  as  to  jeopard  his  reputation  for  cautious  pru- 
dence, as  well  as  for  candor,  by  resorting  to  a  method  of  defama- 
tion so  commoji,  and  so  easily  detected?  It  is  an  old  and  vulgar 
device  to  assail  character  by  volunteering  some  malicious  scandal, 
with  the  hope  that  it  will  make  its  impression,  although  the  retailer 
of  the  libel  attempts  to  screen  his  own  character  b}'^  disavowing 
all  belief  in  it  ?  And  is  it  not  easy  to  discover  his  motive  when 
he  adds  in  the  same  vein  of  pretended  vindication,  that  "after 
the  example  of  their  divine  Master,  the  missionaries  of  the  gospel 
disdained  not  the  society  of  men,  and  especially  of  women,  op- 
pressed by  the  consciousness,  and  very  often  by  the  efl!ects  of  their 


THE   SUCCESS   OF   CHRISTIANITY.  253 

vices."  The  design  of  these  insinuations,  in  such  a  connection,  is 
obvious.  As  he  could  not  deny  the  superior  virtues  of  the  Chris- 
tians— affording  as  they  do  so  powerful  an  argument  for  the  truth 
of  religion — he  attempts  to  divert  our  attention  from  the  elevated 
source  of  these  virtues,  by  assigning  low  and  ignoble  causes  for 
their  existence,  and  by  retailing  calumnies  calculated  to  diminish 
our  estimate  of  their  purity. 

This  habit  of  suggesting  the  malignant  charges  of  others 
calculated  to  make  an  impression  upon  the  memory,  and  to  be 
associated  with  recollection  of  whatsoever  things  are  lovely,  pure, 
and  of  good  report,  we  conceive  to  be  one  of  the  most  criminal,  and 
at  the  same  time  dangerous  artifices  of  this  historian.  Were  this 
of  unfrequent  occurrence,  we  might  regard  it  as  accidental,  or  fail 
to  notice  it  altogether  ;  but  so  perpetually  does  it  recur,  that  when- 
ever he  makes  any  admission  complimentary  to  the  virtues  of  the 
early  Christians,  we  expect,  before  the  paragraph  closes,  to  find 
something  calculated  to  mar  or  defile  the  chaste  image  which  had 
arisen  in  the  mind. 

While  it  is  true  that  the  proclamation  of  salvation  through 
Christ,  was  freely  made  to  all  men,  it  is  7iot  true  that  the  Apostles 
devoted  themselves  mainly  to  the  reformation  of  the  weak,  the 
illiterate,  or  the  abandoned. 

They  preached  the  same  gospel,  and  its  provisions  were  as  ne- 
cessary, to  Joseph  of  Arimathea,  a  wealthy  counsellor,  as  to  the 
wretched  publican,  to  Dionysius,  an  Athenian  judge,  as  to  Barti- 
meus,  the  highway  beggar,  to  Damaris,  an  honorable  woman,  as 
to  Magdalen  the  sinner,  to  the  treasurer  of  queen  Candace  as  to 
the  thief  on  the  cross,  to  king  Agrippa  as  to  the  jailer  at  Philippi. 
And  if  men  whose  crimes  had  been  great,  smitten  with  corres- 
ponding remorse,  found  in  the  provisions  of  the  gospel  a  solace 
which  they  vainly  sought  in  the  institutions  of  Paganism,  then  this 
but  invests  the  gospel  with  new  glories.  That  single  word,  utter- 
most, in  one  of  the  promises  of  the  sacred  Scriptures,  has  infused 
hope  and  joy  into  many  a  despairing  heart.  Terrible  indeed  are 
the  scourges  of  a  guilty  conscience — fierce,  burning,  agonizing  are 
the  pangs  of  remorse.  Men  of  old  were  tormented  by  demons, 
but  what  foul  fiend  ever  tormented  the  soul  like  the  demon-king, 
remorse  7  What  are  all  the  pleasures,  the  honors,  the  distinctions, 
the  riches  of  the  world,  what  is  all  the  sympathy  of  friends,  what 
all  the  endearments  of  love,  to  a  soul  racked  with  remorse  ?  It 
permits  no  rest  to  the  wounded  spirit.     It  has  made  the  unsus- 


254  THE   SUCCESS   OF   CHRISTIANITY. 

pected  man  come  forth  and  charge  himself  with  crimes  whose 
burden  was  too  heavy  to  bear.  It  has  compelled  the  judge  to  come 
down  from  the  bench  and  take  the  place  of  the  prisoner  at  the 
bar.  It  has  made  men  prefer  death — with  all  that  lies  beyond 
death — to  a  life  maddened  by  invisible  stings.  It  has  driven  men 
to  rush  unbidden  on  eternity,  under  the  persuasion  that  its  flames 
would  be  more  tolerable  than  present  anguish — that  hell  would 
prove  a  refuge,  and  damnation  a  release.  Remorse  cannot  find 
any  "expiation  in  the  temples  of  the  gods" — it  defies  all  the  con- 
solations of  earth,  and  mocks  at  their  attempts  to  minister  ease  to 
the  stricken  despairing  soul.  To  its  victims  the  gospel  alone  can 
whisper  comfort.  It  has  a  promise  for  the  worst  of  men.  The 
greatest  criminals,  when  aroused  to  a  sense  of  their  guilt,  are  of 
all  others,  in  greatest  need  of  the  consolations  of  the  gospel.  No 
wonder  that  such  should  avail  themselves  of  a  solace  which  Pa- 
ganism could  not  offer.  Ancient  annals  tell  us  of  the  restless 
anxiety  which  distracted  Tiberius,  of  the  phantoms  of  horror  which 
haunted  Caracalla,  of  the  fearful  visions  which  murdered  the  sleep 
of  Nero — and  other  criminals  of  equal  guilt,  but  less  notoriety, 
have  had  their  terrors  too,  which  Paganism  could  not  assuage. 
But  no  case  was  ever  beyond  the  reach  of  "  salvation  to  the  utter- 
most." There  were  converts  from  among  debased  and  double- 
dyed  transgressors.  But  Christianity  did  not  go  to  the  dens  of 
infamy,  and  to  the  jakes  of  debauchery  for  her  recruits.  She  found 
them  chiefly  among  honest,  industrious,  virtuous  poor.  She  never 
made  selections  among  classes  or  characters.  She  uttered  her 
voice  in  the  streets,  and  her  address  was,  "  to  you,  O  men,  I  call." 
But  our  author  does  not  represent  the  virtues  and  the  private 
lives  of  any  class  of  Christians  in  an  attractive  light.  Had  the 
peculiarities  of  character,  and  of  the  habits  of  the  primitive  be- 
lievers been  such  as  he  depicts,  their  exhibition  would  rather  hare 
extinguished  than  kindled  the  admiration  of  the  world.  In  illus- 
trating this  view  of  his  subject,  Mr.  Gibbon,  according  to  custom, 
throws  in  so  many  dark  hints  and  satirical  comments,  as  quite  to 
neutralize  his  admission  with  regard  to  the  pure  and  blameless 
lives  of  the  primitive  Christians,  and  almost  to  stultify  his  own 
assignment  of  it  as  a  cause  of  the  diflf'usion  of  Christianity.  He 
ascribes  their  exemplary  deportment  to  most  unworthy  motives. 
He  accounts  for  the  sanctity  of  their  lives  by  the  smallness  of 
their  number,  by  the  vigilant  espionage  which  they  exercised 
over  each  other,  and  by  their  desire  to  keep  up  the  reputation  of 


THE   SUCCESS   OF   CHRISTIANITY.  255 

their  sect  in  the  eyes  of  tlie  world.  In  a  word,  he  surmises  that 
they  abstained  from  sin  rather  through  fear  of  detection  than 
from  love  to  virtue,  and  maintained  their  religious  consistency 
from  motives  of  policy  and  sectarian  ambition. 

In  our  author's  sardonic  merriment  over  their  self-denial,  their 
deadness  to  the  allurements  of  sensual  pleasure,  their  morbid 
tenderness  of  conscience,  their  immaculate  chastity,  their  whim- 
sical marriage  rites,  their  occasional  frailties,  their  spiritual  pride, 
their  aversion  to  business  as  well  as  to  the  amusements  of  society, 
, — we  have  ample  evidence  of  the  inward  derision  and  contempt 
which  possessed  him  when  he  penned  that  acknowledgment  of 
the  pure  and  austere  morals  of  the  primitive  Christians.  It  would 
be  difficult  to  find  in  the  writings  of  any  infidel,  condensed  in  so 
small  a  space,  more  disparaging  reflections,  bitter  mockery,  and 
derisive  scorn,  than  Gibbon  exhibits  in  his  dissertation  on  the 
virtues  of  the  infant  Church.  It  is  Mephistophiles  grinning  be- 
hind a  grave-looking  mask. 

The  fifth,  and  last  cause  which  this  historian  assigns  for  the 
wide  diffusion  of  Christianity,  is  what  he  calls  "  the  union  and 
discipline  of  the  Christian  republic,  which  gradually  formed  an 
increasing  and  independent  state  in  the  heart  of  the  Roman  em- 
pire." Alas,  that  there  should  have  been  so  little  union  in  the 
Christian  republic  in  any  age.  Even  before  the  death  of  the 
Apostles  there  were  numerous  heresies,  schisms,  and  divisions. 
If  among  the  discordant  voices  of  the  first  century  there  were 
multitudes  heard  exclaiming,  I  am  for  Paul,  and  I  am  for  Cephas, 
and  1  for  Apollos,  so  in  all  subsequent  ages  the  Church  has  been 
vocal  with  the  party  watchwords  of  interminable  sects  arrayed 
under  the  banners  of  rival  leaders.  There  has  indeed  been  a 
delightful  fellowship  and  bond  of  union  among  all  evangelical  be- 
lievers, formed  by  their  attachment  to  a  common  Saviour,  but 
how  could  Gibbon  seriously  have  ascribed  to  any  organized  con- 
federation those  rapid  and  unparalleled  conquests  of  Christianity, 
which  were  achieved,  according  to  his  own  showing,  a  hundred 
and  fifty  years  before  any  such  federative  union  was  formed? 
Let  us  observe  his  own  statement  of  the  matter.  "The  societies 
which  were  instituted  in  the  cities  of  the  Roman  empire  were 
united  only  by  the  ties  of  faith  and  charity.  Indepejidence  and 
equality  formed  the  basis  of  their  internal  constitution."  And 
then  forgetting  that  he  had  made  "the  discipline"  of  the 
Church  one  of  the  great  causes  of  its  extension,  in  his  zeal  to 


256  THE   SUCCESS   OF   CHRISTLUSTITY. 

introduce  something  to  its  disparagement,  he  adds,  "  The  uant  of 
discipline  was  suppHed  by  the  occasional  assistance  of  the  proph- 
ets,  who  were  called  to  that  function  without  distinction  of  age, 
of  sex,  or  of  natural  abilities,  and  who  as  often  as  they  felt  the 
divine  impulse  poured  forth  the  effusions  of  the  spirit  in  the  as- 
sembly of  the  faithful."  But  it  is  not  the  discipline,  but  the  al- 
leged federative  union  of  the  Church  which  now  occupies  our 
attention.  What  is  his  own  testimony  on  the  subject  ?  "  Every 
society  formed  within  itself  a  separate  and  independent  republic ; 
and  although  the  most  distant  of  these  little  states  maintained  a 
mutual  as  well  as  friendly  intercourse  of  letters  and  deputations, 
the  Christian  world  was  not  yet  connected  by  any  supreme  au- 
thority or  legislative  assembly."  "Such  was  the  mild  and  equal 
constitution  by  which  the  Christians  were  governed  more  than  a 
hundred  years  after  the  death  of  the  Apostles.  But  before  one 
/ia//" century  had  elapsed,  the  gospel  had  spread  not  only  throughout 
the  Roman  empire,  but  even  to  Parthia  and  India.  It  was  not," 
says  Mr.  Gibbon,  until  "  towards  the  end  of  the  secotid  century 
that  the  churches  adopted  the  useful  institutions  of  provincial 
synods,"  borrowing  the  idea,  as  he  supposes,  from  the  Amphictyon 
council,  the  Achaean  league,  or  the  Ionian  assemblies.  After  this 
organization,  "  the  Catholic  church  soon  assumed  the  form  and 
acquired  the  strength  of  a  great  federative  republic."  Now  we 
need  not  consult  Tacitus,  or  any  pagan  historian,  we  need  not 
turn  to  church  history,  or  to  the  sacred  Scriptures  themselves — we 
need  only  refer  to  Gibbon  as  our  authority  to  be  informed  that  the 
most  splendid  triumphs  of  Christianity  were  witnessed  before  any 
such  federative  union  was  formed,  and  yet  he  assigns  this  union 
as  one  cause  of  the  rapid  growth  of  the  Christian  Church  !  He 
is  equally  mistaken  too  when  he  refers  this  rapid  increase  to  the 
strict  discipline  maintained  in  the  Church.  This  might  be  effect- 
ual, to  some  extent,  in  retaining  the  members  already  within  its 
fold,  but  how  could  the  fear  of  ecclesiastical  censures  draw  stran- 
gers and  heathen  into  the  pale  of  the  Church?  And  even  with 
regard  to  those  who  were  already  in  connection  with  it,  is  it  prob- 
able that  the  fear  of  ecclesiastical  censures  would  be  as  powerful 
in  keeping  them  within  its  fold  as  the  fear  of  the  racks  and  flames 
of  persecution  would  be  in  driving  them  out  of  that  fold  ? 

These  are  the  five  famous  natural  or  "secondary  causes"  of  Mr. 
Gibbon,  by  which  he  seeks  to  explain  the  wonderful  promulgation  of 
the  gospel  independent  of  any  supernatural  agency.   Some  of  these 


THE   SUCCESS   OF   CHRISTIANITY.  257 

assigned  causes  are  wholly  irrelevant ;  others  are  valid  so  far 
as  they  prove  that  Christianity  \\a.s  greatly  favored  by  such  cir- 
cumstances, and  such  human  agencies  as  God  chose  to  make  use 
of  in  establishing  his  Church ;  (for  no  believer  in  the  Great 
Author  of  Christianity,  doubts  either  that  he  adapted  it  to  the 
world,  or  that  he  prepared  the  world  by  providential  arrangements 
for  its  reception — compelling  even  "  secondary  causes"  to  further 
the  great  and  glorious  purposes  of  his  grace;)  but  no  candid  man. 
with  the  simple  facts  of  the  case  before  him  can  be  satisfied  that 
Mr.  Gibbon,  with  all  his  labored  array  of  human  instrumentalities 
has  been  able  to  solve  that  mystery  of  a  church  without  worldly 
influence,  wealth,  learning,  rank,  or  power,  represented  by  men 
ignoble  and  despised — declaring  open  war  upon  all  the  vanities, 
vices,  selfish  interests,  cherished  propensities  and  deep-rooted  super- 
stitions of  the  world — yet  triumphing  over  prejudice,  argument, 
eloquence,  philosophy,  established  religion,  the  sword  of  persecu- 
tion, and  finally  clothing  itself  with  the  glory  and  the  honor,  the 
dominion  and  the  power ! 

But  make  a  single  admission.  Ascribe  these  victories  to  the 
superintendence  and  to  the  imparted  aid  of  the  Omniscient  and 
Omnipotent,  and  then  all  wonder  ceases — all  mystery  vanishes. 
Indeed,  willing  or  unwilling,  we  are  forced  to  this  conclusion. 
There  are  no  principles  or  causes  of  production  and  change  in 
the  worlds  of  spirit  and  of  matter,  which  are  not  either  natural 
or  supernatural ;  but  having  seen  that  the  former  is  insufficient  to 
explain  the  phenomenon  before  us,  we  are  forced  back  upon  the 
supernatural. 

Many  of  the  causes  enumerated  by  Mr.  Gibbon  were  in  fact 
effects — effects  produced  by  a  cause  which  it  did  not  suit  his  pur- 
pose to  recognize,  and  his  method  of  explaining  the  creation  of  the 
Christian  Church  resembles  the  ancient  Mythology  which  repre- 
sented the  earth  as  resting  upon  the  back  of  a  tortoise,  but  which 
did  not  inform  us  what  supported  the  tortoise.  Says  Hume, 
"when  we  infer  any  particular  cause  from  an  effect,  we  must  pro- 
portion the  one  to  the  other."  Here  then  is  the  great  incontro- 
vertible fact  of  a  religion  triumphant  over  a  thousand  obsta- 
cles, any  one  of  which  would  seem  sufficient  to  arrest  its  pro- 
gress. To  refer  such  an  eflfect  to  a  human  cause,  and  above  all 
to  such  feeble  and  inadequate  causes,  as  infidelity  with  its  best  in- 
genuity has  been  able  to  assign,  is  certainly  a  shocking  violation 
of  the  principle  of  the  great  skeptic.     The  t/i.^proportion  is  mon- 

17 


258  THE   SUCCESS   OF   CHRISTIANITY. 

stious.  A  church  resting  upon  its  spire  would  be  a  nc  "elty  in 
architecture,  but  it  would  have  as  stable  a  foundation  as  that 
which  infidelity  gives  to  Christianity.  Regarding  the  Christian 
church  as  an  edifice  whose  maker  and  builder  is  God,  we  delight 
to  contemplate  the  lofty  spire  springing /row  the  temple,  and 
pointing  to  heaven,  to  remind  us  of  the  Almighty  architect.  The 
divine  influence  to  which  the  Christian  ascribes  the  success  of 
(Christianity  is  sufficient  to  account  for  every  anomaly,  and  ade- 
(juate  to  the  production  of  every  effect.  Sustained  and  developed 
by  omnipotent  power,  we  can  see  how  Christianity,  at  first  appear- 
ing as  a  twinkling  star,  surrounded  by  clouds  and  thickest  glooms, 
shonld  nevertheless  increase  in  magnitude  and  splendor,  and 
cleaving  the  surrounding  veil  of  darkness  shine  forth  as  the  me- 
ridian sun.  Urged  on  by  the  hand  that  moves  the  worlds,  it  can 
understand  how  the  greatest  results  were  accomplished  by  the 
feeblest  instrumentalities — we  see  that  the  selection  of  humble 
fishermen  as  the  heralds  of  salvation,  instead  of  men  of  rank,  and 
genius,  and  eloquence,  was  because  "  God  hath  chosen  the  foolish 
things  of  the  world  to  confound  the  wise  ;  and  God  hath  chosen  the 
weak  things  of  the  world  to  confound  the  things  v/hicli  are  mighty  ; 
and  base  things  of  the  world,  and  things  which  are  despised,  hath 
(^od  chosen,  yea  and  things  which  are  not,  to  bring  to  naught  things 
that  are  ;  that  no  flesh  should  glory  in  his  presence,"  and  that  the 
power  might  be  seen  to  be  of  God.  Plain  men  convinced  by  the 
miracles  which  they  saw  Christ  perform  of  the  truth  of  his  doc- 
trine, and  able  to  convince  others  of  the  same  truths,  by  the  mir- 
acles which  they  wrought — with  love  to  God  and  love  to  men 
throbbing  in  every  pulsation  of  their  hearts,  and  sending  the  thrill 
of  a  diviner  life  through  every  limb,  impelling  them  to  all  daring, 
never  flagging  action — men  thus  inflamed  and  thus  nerved,  went 
forth  into  the  field  of  the  world,  and  sowed  the  good  seed  which 
has  never  perished,  and  from  which  thousands  in  all  generations 
have  reaped  the  harvest  of  life  everlasting. 

The  frimary  cause  of  the  success  of  Christianity  was  the  oper- 
ation of  the  Divine  Spirit  on  the  minds  and  hearts  of  men,  giving 
to  them  spiritual  perception — subduing  their  opposition  to  the 
truth,  and  endowing  them  with  the  expulsive  and  impulsive 
power  of  a  new  affection.  "Tsrry  ye,"  said  our  Saviour  to  his 
disciples,  "  in  the  city  of  Jerusalem  until  ye  be  endued  with 
power  from  on  high."  This  was  doubtless  a  trying  command  to 
men  in  their  situation,  certain  of  the  resurrection  of  their  Lord, 
assured  that  his  kingdom  would  one  day  fill  the  earth  with  its 


THE   SUCCESS   OF   CHRISTIANITY.  259 

glory,  and  knowing-  that  the  salvation  of  the  race  depended  upon 
the  reception  of  the  gospel  offer.  With  such  tidings  to  commu- 
nicate, with  such  a  glorious  King  to  proclaim,  they  must  have 
longed  to  advance,  at  once,  to  the  prosecution  of  their  work — but 
the  time  had  not  yet  come.  A  new  and  peculiar  influence  must 
descend  from  heaven  and  rest  upon  them  ere  they  could  be  quali- 
fied for  the  undertaking.  As  the  statue  of  Memnon  on  the  shores 
of  the  sea  stood  tuneless  and  mute,  until  the  rays  of  the  morning 
sun  gilded  its  brow,  so  these  heralds  of  the  gospel  had  neither  gifts 
nor  tongues  for  their  sublime  proclamation  until  the  light  and  fire 
from  heaven  should  descend  upon  their  heads,  illuminating  and 
kindling  them,  and  causing  them  in  turn  to  illuminate  and  kindle 
others.  But  baptized  by  this  heaven-descended  influence,  though 
ignorant,  they  became  wise,  though  weak,  they  became  resistless, 
though  timid,  they  became  animated  with  a  courage,  which  noth- 
ing in  life  or  death  could  daunt.  By  this  supernatural  agency, 
they  were  endowed  not  only  with  the  gift  of  tongues,  but  with  the 
power  of  working  miracles.  And  now  their  most  extraordinary 
successes  are  no  longer  inexplicable.  What  though  they  are  ob- 
scure, unlettered  men,  standing  perchance  in  the  presence  of  rank 
and  power,  what  is  to  prevent  them  from  elevating  the  humble 
cross,  and  challenging  the  admiration  and  love  of  beholders  for 
a  crucified  Saviour,  while  they  bear  in  their  hands  the  credentials 
of  heaven,  and  by  signs  and  mighty  wonders  are  able  to  display 
to  the  senses  and  inmost  convictions  of  men  the  evidences  of  an 
Omnipotent  and  present  God,  bearing  miraculous  testimony  to  the 
truth  and  importance  of  their  doctrine  ?  What  is  there  longer 
unaccountable  in  the  success  of  Christianity,  the  moment  that  the 
Son  of  the  lowly  Virgin  is  demonstrated  to  be  the  Son  of  God,  and 
when  his  poor,  unlettered,  timid  followers,  are  seen  to  be  girded 
with  strength  from  on  high  ?  What  is  to  prevent  the  triumph  of 
doctrines  which  exhibit  the  impress  of  the  same  Almighty  hand 
which  has  left  its  autogragh  on  every  leaf  of  the  Book  of  Nature? 
Should  all  other  miracles  be  blotted  from  record,  this  miracle  of 
the  swift  and  universal  spread  of  Christianity  would  remain  a  mon- 
ument of  its  celestial  lineage,  immovable  as  the  everlasting  hills. 

And  to  the  same  power  which  gave  to  Christianity  its  first 
victories,  must  we  ascribe  its  preservation  in  the  world  during  so 
many  centuries,  and  its  present  existence,  p3wer,  and  progress. 
There  was  a  period — we  need  not  now  trace  the  path  which  led 
to  it — when  all  that  was  pure,  and  spiritual,  and  divine,  in  Chris- 


260  THE  SUCCESS   OF   CHRISTIANITY. 

tianity  seemed  to  have  been  swallowed  up,,  and  buried  under  a 
mass  of  dead  forms  and  living  corruptions — when  superstition 
and  ignorance  brooded  over  the  earth  as  darkness  did  upon  the 
face  of  the  deep  when  the  earth  was  without  form,  and  void. 
But  Christianity,  though  disastrously  eclipsed,  had  not  been  utterly 
extinguished.  Deep  beneath  the  smouldering  ashes  a  brand  from 
the  altar  lay  buried.  It  was  glowing  unseen,  like  the  internal 
fires  which  are  smothered  in  the  deep  abysses  of  the  volcano,  pres- 
ently to  burst  forth  and  shoot  up  their  flames  to  the  empyrean. 
Through  all  the  dark  ages  the  religious  element  was  working, 
and  though  misdirected,  as  in  the  case  of  the  Crusades,  it  was  not 
annihilated.  The  word  of  God,  though  bound,  was  not  utterly 
silent,  and  even  when  its  whisper  was  heard,  the  still  small  voice 
was  glorified.  There  were  not  wanting  even  in  the  bosom  of  the 
apostate  Church,  witnesses  for  the  truth  as  it  is  in  Jesus.  Claudius 
of  Turin,  in  the  9th  century,  and  Peter  of  Bruys,  Arnold  of  Brescia, 
in  the  12th  century,  Pierre  Valdo,  Wiclif,  Jerome  of  Prague, 
Anselm  of  Canterbury,  and  Savonarola,  in  later  times,  all  testi- 
fied against  the  abuses  which  had  corrupted  the  Church,  and 
above  all  the  Vaudois  formed  a  long-continued  chain  of  witnesses 
for  the  truth,  holding  up  the  cardinal  doctrines  of  the  gospel  even 
as  the  Alpine  mountains  which  they  inhabited  lifted  up  their 
summits  above  the  plains  to  be  bathed  in  the  pure  sun-light  of 
heaven.  The  Waldenses  nestling  in  the  valleys  of  Piedmont, 
holding  fast  to  their  integrity,  served  God  in  ancient  purity  of 
worship,  and  never  bowed  the  knee  to  Baal ;  and  even  when  the 
sword  of  the  persecuting  foe  smote  among  them,  they  were  not 
destroyed,  but  when  scattered, went  forth  into  all  parts  of  Europe 
sowing  the  good  seed  of  the  word  of  life.  It  was  the  noble 
heroism  of  this  band  which  inspired  that  immortal  sonnet  of 
Milton,  so  truly  descriptive  of  their  wrongs,  and  of  the  fruit  of 
their  sufferings. 

"  Avenge,  0  Lord,  thy  slaughtered  saints,  whose  bones 

Lie  scatter'd  on  the  Alpine  mountains  cold ; 

Ev'n  them  who  kept  thy  truth  so  pure  of  old, 

When  all  our  Fatliers  worshipp'd  stocks  and  stones 
Forget  not ;  in  thy  book  record  their  groans 

Who  were  thy  sheep,  and  m  their  ancient  fold 

Slain  by  the  bloody  Piemontese,  that  roU'd 

Mother  with  infant  down  the  rocks.     Their  moans 
The  vales  redoubled  to  the  hills,  and  they 

To  Heav'n.     Their  martyr'd  blood  and  ashes  sow 


THE   SUCCESS   OF  CHRISTIANITY.  261 

O'er  all  th'  Italian  fields  ■where  still  doth  sway 
The  triple  tyrant ;  that  from  these  may  grow 
A  hundred-fold,  who  having  learn'd  the  way 
Early  may  fly  the  Babylonian  woe." 

When  at  last  the  light  of  the  Reformation  blazed  forth,  it  was 
evidently  kindled  by  the  same  spirit  ^  hich  came  down  in  tongues 
of  fire  on  the  day  of  Pentecost.  It  was  not  by  might,  nor  by 
human  power,  that  the  Reformation  was  accomplished. 

Various  temporal  princes  resisted  Rome,  but  one  after  another 
(to  use  the  fine  metaphors  of  D'Aubigne)  they  broke  in  pieces  at 
the  base  of  the  mighty  colossus  they  undertook  to  overthrow. 
Learning  too  awoke  and  came  to  the  rescue,  but  learning  became 
subsidized,  and  kissed  the  feet  of  the  power  it  attempted  to  de- 
throne. At  last  the  apostate  church  undertook  to  correct  its  own 
abuses,  but  corruption  could  not  purify  corruption,  nor  could  the 
festering  wound  originate  its  own  cure.  But  finally  the  regen- 
erative power  which  erected  the  church  of  the  1st  century  on  the 
ruins  of  Polytheism,  built  up  its  demolished  walls  on  the  ruins 
of  Babylon.  The  divine  oracles,  so  long  imprisoned,  again  spoke 
forth,  and  the  word  was  life  and  light.  Pure  Christianity  revived. 
Old  things  passed  away  and  all  things  became  new. 

Since  the  glorious  era  of  the  Reformation,  Christianity  has 
illustrated  her  indestructibility  by  coming  forth  unscathed  from 
the  assaults  of  other  foes.  Even  under  its  noon-tide  radiance, 
and  in  the  enjoyment  of  the  richest  blessings  which  the  gospel 
has  communicated  to  the  world,  there  has  arisen  an  order  of  men 
whose  hearts  are  filled  with  rancorous  hatred  to  its  doctrines,  and 
who  have  exerted  all  their  powers  in  the  attempt  to  dislodge  its 
truths  from  the  memories  and  affections  of  their  fellows.  Casting 
aside  the  old  weapons  of  force,  the  assault  has  been  not  upon  the 
bodies,  but  upon  the  minds  of  men.*  In  this  campaign  Infidelity 
has  marshalled  all  its  hosts,  it  has  sent  forth  its  ponderous  tomes 
of  grave  scholastic  argument,  it  has  come  forth  arrayed  in  the 
imposing  garb  of  philosophy.  It  has  assumed  to  itself  all  the 
panoply  of  science.     It  has  mingled  its  dogmas  with  the  voice  of 

*  Some  years  ago,  the  author  of  this  Lecture  found  some  remarks  on  the  various 
guises  and  atrocities  of  Infidelity  (as  he  thinks),  in  a  newspaper  or  magazine.  Bemg 
pleased  with  their  animation  he  carelessly  copied,  or  rather  made  a  running  para- 
phrase of  them,  never  expecting  to  use  the  paper.  The  general  drift  of  these  re- 
marks he  has  endeavored  to  give  above.  Were  it  in  his  power  he  would  quote  them 
accurately,  and  doubtless  in  a  more  condensed  and  striking  form. 


262  .        THE   SUCCESS   OF   CHRISTIANITY. 

history.  It  has  infused  its  poison  into  the  fountains  of  Hterature. 
It  has  blended  its  notes  with  the  sweet  cadences  of  poetry.  It 
has  chanted  its  blasphemies  in  softest  strains  of  music.  It  has 
crept  into  every  house  in  the  garb  of  fiction.  It  has  shot  forth 
the  polished  arrows  of  satire,  and  decked  itself  with  the  charms 
of  wit  and  sentiment.  It  has  borrowed  the  livery  of  heaven,  and 
transformed  itself  into  an  angel  of  light.  It  has  pretended  to  be 
the  only  true  friend  and  ally  of  freedom.  It  has  spread  its  lures 
for  the  feet  of  the  aged,  and  stolen  with  velvet  tread  into  the 
chambers  of  youth  and  innocence.  Since  the  era  of  the  Reforma- 
tion, it  has  joined  hands  as  did  Polytheism  of  old  with  persecut- 
ing power.  It  has  again  drawn  the  sword,  and  kindled  the  fagot, 
and  quarried  the  prison,  and  set  in  order  its  implements  of 
cruelty.  It  has  thundered  its  denunciations  against  the  heralds 
of  the  gospel,  and  armed  its  myrmidons  against  the  followers  of 
the  meek  and  lowly  Lamb.  It  has  abolished  the  temples  of  the 
Most  High,  attempted  to  raze  the  foundations  of  the  Church,  and 
to  overwhelm  in  a  tempest  of  fire  and  blood,  all  who  professed  to 
be  followers  of  the  crucified  Redeemer.  And  still  the  Church 
survives,  God  being  her  refuge  and  strength,  and  very  present 
help  in  time  of  trouble. 

There  is  another  and  very  different  illustration  of  the  "  success" 
of  Christianity,  to  which  we  would  fain  advert,  viz.  to  its  instru- 
mentality in  relieving  human  wants  and  woes,  its  amehoration 
of  the  wrongs  and  evils  of  society,  the  solace  it  brings  to  the 
wounded  spirit,  and  its  happy  influence  on  the  temporal  prospects 
of  men.  Wherever  it  has  gone  it  has  rebuked  oppression,  re- 
pressed violence,  and  compelled  vice,  abashed,  to  skulk  in  dark- 
ness. It  has  given  to  us,  as  a  nation,  the  free  institutions  which 
command  the  admiration  and  excite  the  hopes  of  the  down-trod- 
den in  all  lands.  It  has  given  to  Christendom  the  power  which 
it  now  exercises  over  the  destiny  of  the  whole  world.  While  Infi- 
delity is  like  the  molten  lava  which,  spouting  up  from  the  infernal 
depths  of  the  volcano,  overwhelming  vineyards  and  human  habi- 
tations in  its  fiery  sweep,  then  settles  down  upon  the  blackened 
ruins,  hardening  itself  to  stone— Christianity  descends  like  the  gentle 
dews  of  Heaven,  steals  through  the  silent  valleys,  diffusing  fertility 
and  fragrance  as  it  goes,  causing  the  dry  land  to  become  springs  of 
water  and  the  desert  to  blossom  as  the  rose,  while  before  it  siffhinff 
and  sorrow  flee  away,  and  in  its  train  come  thanksgiving  and  the 
voice  of  melody. 


THE   SUCCESS   OF   CHRISTIANITY.  263 

The  author  of  that  admirable  little  work  entitled  "The  Bible 
True,"  remarks,  that  "  there  are  two  effects  produced  by  the  word 
of  God  ou  the  hearts  of  those  who  embrace  it,  which  are  peculiar 
to  revelation.  One  is  elevated  purity.  This  effect  is  not  confined 
to  the  virtuous  part  of  mankind,  but  is  witnessed  also  in  the  despe- 
rate, and  outrageous,  and  lawless,  who  are  brought  under  its  power. 
Men  fierce  as  wild  beasts,  as  cruel  as  death,  and  ungovern- 
able as  the  storm,  have  often  felt  its  purifying  power.  This  has 
been  the  case  from  the  first.  An  early  Christian  writer  says, 
"Give  me  a  man  of  a  passionate,  abusive,  headstrong  disposition; 
with  a  few  only  of  the  words  of  God,  I  will  make  him  gentle  as 
a  lamb.  Give  me  a  greedy,  avaricious,  tenacious  wretch  ;  and  I 
will  teach  him  to  distribute  his  riches  with  an  unsparing  hand. 
Give  me  a  cruel  and  blood-thirsty  monster  ;  and  all  his  rage  shall 
be  exchanged  to  true  benignity.  Give  me  a  man  addicted  to  in- 
justice, full  of  ignorance,  and  immersed  in  wickedness  ;  he  shall 
soon  become  just,  prudent,  and  innocent." 

Such  was  the  testimony  of  one  who  witnessed  the  power  of 
Christianity  in  the  primitive  age.  Let  us  content  ourselves  with 
a  single  illustration  of  its  influence  in  modern  times,  as  exhibited 
in  the  following  narrative  extracted  from  an  annual  report  of  the 
Bible  Society,  issued  some  years  ago. 

"In  1787,  the  ship  Bounty  sailed  from  England  to  the  Pacific  in 
quest  of  young  bread-fruit  trees  to  be  replanted  in  the  West  Indies. 
On  her  way  home  the  crew  mutinied,  placed  the  master  and  eigh- 
teen others  in  a  frail  open  boat,  with  scanty  provisions,  and  com- 
mitted them  to  the  mercy  of  the  ocean.  Strange  to  tell,  that  boat 
accomplished  a  voyage  of  more  than  4,000  miles  and  reached 
England  in  safety.  The  mutineers,  twenty-five  in  number,  set 
sail  for  some  island  in  the  Pacific.  They  quarrelled  and  separated. 
About  half  of  the  whole  number  were  captured  by  an  English 
vessel-of-war,  carried  home  and  hung  in  irons.  Nine  of  these 
desperadoes  went  to  Tahiti,  took  on  board  nineteen  natives,  seven 
men  and  twelve  women,  and  sailed  for  some  uninhabited  island  in 
the  ocean.  They  found  one,  Pitcairn's  Island.  Shortly  after  land- 
ing, the  Tahitian  men  murdered  five  of  the  mutineers,  upon  which 
the  twelve  women  rose  at  night  and  killed  their  seven  countrymen. 
Of  the  four  remaining  mutineers,  one  invented  a  distillery,  and 
becoming  delirious  leaped  from  a  cliff  into  the  sea  and  was  lost. 
Another  was  shot  for  attempting  to  destroy  his  messmates.  Of 
the  two  then  left,  one  died  a  natural  death,  and  the  other,  named 


264  THE   SUCCESS   OF   CHRISTIANITY. 

John  Adams,  alone  survived.  Here  their  hiding-place  was  undis- 
turbed until  1814,  when  it  was  visited,  as  also  in  1825.  Strange 
alterations  had  taken  place.  The  number  of  inhabitants  had  in- 
creased to  seventy.  There  was  no  debauchery  amongst  them. 
Good  order  prevailed.  Filial  affection  and  brotherly  love  pervaded 
the  entire  society.  The  blessing  of  God  was  invoked  on  every 
meal.  Prayer  was  offered  every  morning,  noon  and  evening.  The 
laws  of  civilized  society  were  in  force.  The  rights  of  property 
were  respected.  A  simple  and  pure  morality  was  prevalent.  How 
was  this?  What  had  made  the  change?  Had  vice  wrought  its 
own  cure?  Had  there  been  some  good  principles  combined  with 
the  mutiny  and  murder,  the  heathenism  and  devilish  passions, 
which  this  gang  had  been  guilty  of?  No.  These  evils  never  work 
their  own  cure,  except  by  consuming,  like  a  fire,  their  own  mate- 
rials. The  cause  of  the  change  was  this.  Adams  had  saved, 
hid  and  preserved  a  Bible,  and  when  his  comrades  were  dead,  he 
studied  it,  embraced  its  promises,  believed  God's  testimony  concern- 
ing his  Son,  was  converted,  read  and  taught  its  truths  to  his  family 
and  neighbors,  and  God  blessed  his  word  to  their  conversion  also. 
That  very  Bible  is  now  in  this  country.  It  is  a  small  volume, 
printed  in  1765.  The  salt  sea  and  the  salt  tears  of  old  Adams 
have  taken  away  its  gloss  and  dimmed  its  print ;  but  it  contains 
God's  testimony  of  Jesus.  That  was  the  secret  of  its  power.  The 
worm  has  eaten  it  through  and  through.  But  the  glad  tidings  to 
sinners  can  still  be  read  in  it.  That  Bible  has  travelled  round 
the  globe,  has  been  the  means  of  reforming  a  whole  community 
of  outlaws,  and  still  lives  to  proclaim  its  divine  Original  and  its 
life-giving  power.  When  Adams  was  brought  to  his  death-bed,  he 
was  old  in  years,  but  strong  in  faith.  The  friends  of  the  old  salt 
collected  around  him  and  asked:  'Well,  John,  what  cheer?' 
'  Land  ahead !'  was  his  characteristic  veply.  After  a  few  days 
they  again  gathered  around  him  and  said :  '  Well,  John,  how 
now  ?'  He  replied :  '  Rounding  the  point  into  the  harbor.'  At 
last  he  lay  upon  his  dying  pillow,  and  his  relations  were  standing 
all  around  in  tears,  and  yet  in  hope.  One  said  :  '  Brother,  how 
now  ?'  '  Let  go  the  anchor,'  was  his  dying  exclamation,  and  he 
fell  asleep." 

Having  taken  this  general  but  extended  view  of  the  rise,  prog- 
ress, and  effects  of  Christianity,  we  may  be  permitted,  in  conclu- 
sion, to  cast  a  single  glance  toward  the  future. 

We  have  seen  enough  to  convince  us  that  our  holy  religion  is 


THE   SUCCESS  OF   CHRISTIANITY.  265 

indestructible  in  its  nature,  possessing  within  itself  no  elements 
of  decay,  but  the  principle  of  immortality.  The  shield  of  God  is 
spread  over  it,  and  the  bosses  of  that  buckler  are  eternal  truth 
and  power.  There  let  infidelity  hurl  its  darts  until  with  nerve- 
less, withered,  wasted  arm,  it  abandons  the  contest,  with  the  con- 
fession that  such  assaults  are  more  idle  than  casting  straws  against 
the  impenetrable  scales  of  Leviathan.  Its  past  history  gives  the 
bright  presage  of  its  future  victories.  Amidst  all  the  revolutions 
of  ages,  amidst  all  the  desolations  of  time,  amidst  all  the  changing, 
vanishing  creeds  and  institutions  of  the  world,  Christianity  still 
survives ;  and  rises  to  the  view  as  beautiful  and  glorious,  as  on 
the  day  when  arrayed  in  its  primal  loveliness,  it  came  down  from 
Heaven  to  redeem  and  regenerate  the  earth.  "Serapis  fell  with 
Thebes,  Baal  with  Babylon,  Apollo  with  Delphi,  and  Jupiter 
with  the  capitol,  but  Christianity  has  often  beheld  the  demolition 
of  her  sacred  temples  without  being  convulsed  by  their  fall."  It 
derives  its  vitality  from  Him  who  only  hath  immortality,  and  its 
shrine  is  not  material  walls,  but  the  hving  heart  of  the  good 
man.  When  its  temples  have  been  overthrown,  and  its  disciples 
compelled  to  flee  the  haunts  of  civilized  life,  its  hymns  have 
charmed  the  solitude  of  the  desert,  its  prayers  have  hallowed  the 
damp  walls  of  the  dungeon,  its  sacraments  have  been  celebrated 
in  the  dens  of  the  earth,  its  most  illustrious  triumphs  have  been 
witnessed  upon  scaffolds,  its  brightest  glories  have  blazed  forth 
from  the  funeral  piles  of  its  martyrs.  Other  creeds  have  been 
like  the  clouds,  for  a  time  piled  up  in  dizzy  heights  and  bathed 
in  the  golden  beams  of  the  sun,  while  Christianity,  like  the  sun 
itself,  shines  undimmed  and  unwasted,  with  none  of  its  original 
glory  obscured.  Every  day  its  expansive  power  becomes  increas- 
ingly manifest.  Its  missionaries  now  traverse  all  lands,  dare  all 
climates,  and  tempt  all  seas. 

With  each  returning  Sabbath  the  praises  of  its  exalted  Author 
are  murmured  from  ten  thousand  tongues ;  the  strain  is  caught 
up  from  church  to  church,  and  from  land  to  land,  until  the  music 
goes  echoing  round  the  world. 

And  can  we  for  a  moment  believe,  that  a  religion  so  benign,  so 
adapted  in  its  provisions  to  the  necessities  and  woes  of  the  world, 
teaching  sweet  lessons  of  resignation  under  present  sorrow,  in- 
spiring such  joyous  anticipations  of  future  blessedness,  can  ever 
perish?  No — these  celestial  hopes  whose  untiring  wings  waft  the 
soul  above  all  that  is  terrestrial,  these  sublime  aspirations,  whose 


266  THE   SUCCESS   OF   CHRISTIANITY. 

angel  fingers  point  to  the  illimitable  sky,  and  cheer  the  spirit 
with  the  foretaste  of  a  destiny  full  of  glory,  honor,  immortality, 
eternal  life — oh  no — these  can  never  perish — they  are  heaven- 
born  and  indestructible.  They  can  never  be  supplanted  by  a  sul- 
len, cheerless  infidelity,  which  submits  because  it  must,  to  inexor- 
able fate — which  has  no  prospects,  but  a  cold,  bleak  world  around, 
and  a  rayless  eternity  beyond — whose  best  discovery  is,  a  grave 
without  a  resurrection,  and  a  world  without  a  God. 


^-^-7^ 


# 


*«»• 


SMpirntinit  nf  tlie  |rri|iteM : 


MORELL'S  THEORY  DISCUSSED  AND  REFUTED. 


THE  KEY.    T.  V.  MOORE, 


RICHMOND,  VA. 


Has  God  spoken  in  an  authenticated  form  to  man  ?  is  one  of 
the  most  momentous  questions  that  man  can  ask  or  answer.  If 
he  has  not,  then  a  thousand  demands  of  duty  and  of  destiny 
crowd  upon  us  for  solution.  What  am  I?  Whence  am  I? 
Whither  am  I  bound?  Why  am  I  here?  What  relation  has  my 
here  to  my  hereafter?  and  kindred  queries,  rise  clamorous  and 
pressing  upon  the  soul.  We  bend  over  the  cradle  to  learn  the 
mystery  of  our  origin,  but  no  note  of  intelligence  comes  from  the 
little  unconscious  one  that  nestles  there.  We  strain  our  gaze  into 
the  gloom  of  the  grave  to  unravel  the  problem  of  our  destiny,  and 
ask  "  if  a  man  die,  shall  he  live  again  ?"  but  no  reply  comes  up 
from  the  voiceless  dwelling  of  the  worm,  the  clod,  and  the  coffin. 
We  turn  to  the  living  multitude,  the  rushing  tide^f  men,  and 
ask,  what  is  truth?  What  is  duty?  What  is  happiness?  What 
is  safety  ?  and  there  come  up  to  us  the  infinite  voices  of  a  Babel 
confusion.  The  philosopher  says  it  is  here ;  the  poet  says  it  is 
here  ;  the  Brahmin  says  it  is  with  me  ;  the  Gnostic  says  it  is  with 
me  ;  the  Academy  and  the  Porch,  the  stern  Stoic  and  the  courtly 
Epicurean  all  cry  that  the  hght  has  come  only  to  them ;  the 
Moslem  points  to  the  pale  gleam  of  the  Crescent  and  the  Jew  to 
the  red  glare  of  Sinai ;  the  idealist  and  the  materialist,  the  mystic 
and  the  sensationalist,  the  skeptic  and  the  traditionalist,  the  eclec- 
tic and  the  indifferentist,  all  affirm  that  they  only  have  the  true 
voice  of  reason,  and  the  true  theory  of  existence.  If  then,  there  is 
no  utterance  from  the  eternal  verity,  who  shall  tell  us  what  is  the 
truth  amidst  this  chaotic  din  of  multitudinous  voices?  If  there 
is  no  spear  of  Ithuriel,  who  shall  disenchant  for  us  the  lurking 
spirit  of  falsity,  and  give  us  a  test  to  distinguish  the  true  from  the 
untrue?  If  there  is  no  clue  to  this  tangled  thicket,  who  shall 
thread  the  thorny  labyrinth,  and  pluck  for  us  the  fruit  of  the  tree 
of  life?  Alas!  if  we  are  left  to  ourselves,  with  our  purblind 
vision,  our  flickering  light,  and  our  faltering  step,  the  mournful 


270  INSPIRATION  OF  THE  SCRIPTURES. 

fate  of  those  who  have  preceded  us,  relying  on  the  same  aids, 
warns  us  of  what  must  be  our  inevitable  destiny. 

If  God  has  not  spoken  to  man,  why  did  he  give  him  the  cruel 
capacity  for  such  questions  as  these?  If  he  meant  to  doom  him 
to  the  brute's  uncertainty,  why  did  he  not  give  him  the  precious 
boon  of  the  brute's  blank  ignorance  and  content?  Why  did  he 
furnish  liglit  for  the  eye,  sound  for  the  ear,  fragrance  and  food  for 
their  respective  organs,  and  a  supply  for  every  rightful  demand 
that  rises  in  our  nature,  but  this  highest,  deepest,  most  moment- 
ous want  of  the  soul? 

But  has  he  thus  left  us?  Can  it  be,  that  he  who  preserves 
man  and  beast,  who  feeds  the  callow  young  of  the  sparrow,  and 
hears  the  lions'  whelps  when  they  cry,  has  forsaken  his  noblest, 
greatest  work,  precisely  at  that  point  where  it  was  most  important 
that  the  law  of  supply  existing  below  it,  should  continue  to  act? 
Has  he  left  his  crowning  creature  in  the  crowning  purpose  and 
need  of  his  existence,  as  the  ostrich  leaves  her  egg  in  the  lone 
and  trackless  desert,  without  parental  oversight  and  bereft  of 
parental  supply?  No  !  The  deepest  instincts  of  our  nature,  the 
widest  generalizations  of  our  experience,  and  the  calmest  conjec- 
tures of  our  reason  unite  in  saying,  it  cannot  be ;  God  must  have 
spoken  ;  and  if  his  words  can  but  be  recognized  in  the  thousand- 
voiced  din  of  this  earthly  Babel,  we  shall  learn  the  truth  to  be 
believed  and  the  duty  to  be  performed. 

If  then  he  has  spoken,  the  query  arises,  is  it  in  a  form  accessi- 
ble to  all,  the  high  and  low,  the  ignorant  and  learned,  the  weak 
of  mind  as  well  as  the  mighty?  And  is  it  in  a  form  sufficiently 
reliable  to  be  made  trustworthy  to  all  who  have  access  to  it? 
These  questions  are  equivalent  to  the  inquiry,  is  such  a  thing 
possible  to  the  human  soul  as  the  inspiration  of  the.  Almighty  ? 
If  so,  can  its  results  be  made  certainly  available  to  any  other 
mind  than  that  which  originally  receives  it?  This  throws  open 
to  us  the  whole  question  of  inspiration,  its  psychological  possibility, 
its  nature,  its  extent,  and  its  existence  as  a  fact  in  the  writings 
of  the  Old  and  New  Testament. 

The  views  of  those  who  have  written  on  this  wide  question 
vary  from  the  extreme  of  credulity  and  word-worship  on  the  one 
side,  to  the  extreme  of  skepticism  and  man-worship  on  the  other. 
But  they  may  all  be  thrown  into  two  grand  categories ;  they  who 
affirm  in  some  form,  the  plenary  verbal  inspiration  of  the  Bible, 
and  they  who  in  form  or  substance  deny  it.     Of  those  who  affirm 


INSPIRATION   OF  THE  SCRIPTURES.  271 

it,  some  contenl  Avith  J.  D.  Michaelis,  and  a  few  writers  of  the 
Sociniau  school,  tiiat  some  portions  of  the  canonical  Scriptures  are 
thus  inspired  and  some  are  not.  Others,  with  Calamy,  Haldane, 
and  Gaussen,*  in  their  otherwise  excellent  works  on  this  subject, 
contend  for  the  theory  of  verbal  dictation,  affirming  that  the 
canonical  writers  were  the  mere  amanuenses  of  the  Holy  Ghost, 
writing  just  the  very  words  that  they  were  directed  to  write,  and 
directed  always  to  write  the  very  words  which  they  did  write ;  a 
theory,  however,  which  when  defined  and  explained  as  they  hold 
it,  is  found  to  be  rather  an  unfortunate  and  extravagant  statement 
of  the  truth,  than  an  assertion  of  positive  error.  Others  again, 
with  Twesten,  Smith,  Dick,  Parry,  Wilson,  Henderson,  Chalmers, 
and  the  great  body  of  Protestant  theologians,  hold,  that  whilst 
we  need  not  and  cannot  affirm  that  the  writers  were  mere  scribes, 
recording  with  mechanical  accuracy  the  mere  and  ipsissima 
verba  dictated  to  them  by  the  Holy  Spirit,  so  that  the  subjective 
state  of  mind  of  Matthew  in  recording  the  fact  that  Christ  was 
born  in  Bethlehem,  was  precisely  the  same  with  that  of  Micah  in 
predicting  it ;  yet  that  in  every  case  there  was  such  an  influence 
of  the  Holy  Spirit  on  the  minds  of  the  writers  as  infallibly  to 
direct  them  what  to  say  and  what  to  omit,  so  that  we  should  have 
the  truth,  the  whole  truth,  and  nothing  but  the  truth,  as  far  as 
was  necessary  to  the  main  object  of  the  Bible ;  and  that  whilst 
the  very  words  were  not  in  every  case  dictated  to  the  writers,  yet 
such  an  influence  of  the  Spirit  extended  to  the  words  selected,  as 
to  prevent  the  use  of  any  that  would  express  an  error  or  an  un- 
truth. Of  those  who  deny  the  plenary  inspiration  of  the  Scrip- 
tures, some  take  the  old  ground  of  imposture  and  fraud,  with  the 
French  school ;  others  like  Priestley  and  the  low  rationalistic 
party,  admit  the  substantial  truth  of  the  facts,  and  veracity  of  the 
writers,  but  deny  any  divine  influence  to  them,  and  assert  either 
that  the  facts  are  not  miraculous,  or  the  record  not  correct ;  others, 
with  Strauss,  make  the  entire  book  a  bundle  of  myths,  ranking 
it  with  the  legends  of  all  ancient  nations  concerning  the  heroic 
ages  of  their  history  ;  whilst  others,  with  Schleiermacher,  admit 
an  inspiration,  but  deny  that  it  is  either  miraculous,  infallible  or 
peculiar  to  these  writers. 

The  old  theory  of  imposture  is  now  abandoned  by  nearly  all 
intelligent  skeptics,  and  left  to  the  mere  canaille  of  infidelity.     It 

*  Gaujsen  has  recently  disclaimed  this  theory,  and  indeed  condemned  it  as  mis- 
chievous    See  D'Aubigne'3  Authority  of  God,  p.  267. 


272  INSPIKATION   OF  THE  SCKIPTUllES. 

is  seen  that  it  fails  to  account  for  the  admitted  facts  of  iJie  case, 
to  furnish  any  satisfactory  explanation  of  the  conduct  of  these 
men,  or  to  account  for  the  existence  and  influence  of  Christianity 
and  the  Bible  as  existing  facts  in  human  history.  It  is  felt  that 
these  men  must  have  been  earnest,  true,  and  sincere,  to  account 
for  their  impress  on  the  world's  life,  by  any  of  the  ordinary  laws 
of  human  nature ;  whilst  to  affirm  any  other  laws,  would  be  to 
allege  a  miracle  for  which  there  was  no  proof,  to  set  aside  miracles 
for  which  there  was  proof;  and  therefore  to  admit  a  miracle  more 
incredible  than  those  that  were  rejected.  But  modern  criticism 
will  take  a  further  step  than  this,  and  admit  that  these  writers 
were  the  actual  recipients  of  a  real  divine  enlightenment,  but  will 
deny  that  they  were  so  enlightened  as  to  be  the  infallible  expoun- 
ders of  truth  and  duty,  or  that  their  writings  can  be  called  inspired 
in  any  other  sense  than  the  word  may  be  loosely  and  inaccurately 
applied  to  the  writings  of  any  great,  earnest  and  enlightened  men, 
who  have  been  the  subjects  of  an  afflatus  of  genius.  This  we 
believe  to  be  essentially  the  view  presented  by  Carlyle  in  his  essay 
on  Yoltaire,  and  Sartor  Resartus,  book  iii.  ch.  7 ;  by  Bailey,  Leigh 
Hunt,  the  Westminster  Review,  and  other  organs  of  literary  skep- 
ticism or  free  thinking  on  religious  subjects  in  our  own  day. 

We  have  thought  it  best  in  an  exercise  like  the  present,  not  to 
attempt  a  discussion  of  the  whole  subject,  which  must  be  little 
better  than  a  meagre  epitome  of  the  common-places  of  apologeti- 
cal  theology ;  but  to  refer  you  to  the  works  already  named  for  a 
full  treatment  of  the  whole  theme,  and  grapple  directly  with 
what  is  the  most  prevalent  form  of  error  on  this  subject  at  present 
in  the  minds  of  educated  and  literary  men.  Happily  for  our  pur- 
pose, we  have  this  theory  set  forth  in  a  detailed  and  scientific 
form,  which  gives  us  something  tangible  and  definite  to  encounter. 
Mr.  Morell,  who  gained  no  small  reputation  by  his  History  of 
Philosophy  in  the  Nineteenth  Century,  has  pubhshed  a  Philosophy 
of  Religion,  in  which  he  presents  this  theory  in  the  most  formal 
and  elaborate  manner,  and  sets  up  for  it  the  most  able  and  suc- 
cessful defence  that  we  have  seen  in  our  language.  As  the  alter- 
native is  confessedly  between  this  theory  and  the  old  one  of 
plenary  inspiration,  the  overthrow  of  the  one  will  be  the  admitted 
establishment  of  the  other. 

We  propose  then  to  subject  to  a  detailed  and  crrtical  examina- 
tion, Mr.  Morell's  Theory  of  Inspiration,  as  set  forth  in  his  Phi- 
losophy of  Religion. 


INSPIRATION   OF   THE   SCRIPTURES.  273 

His  theory  of  Inspiration  is  based  on  Iiis  psychology,  but  yet 
may  be  described  in  terms  sufficiently  exphcit,  without  entering 
into  the  details  of  his  system  of  intellectual  philosophy.  Adopt- 
ing the  division  of  the  mental  operations  naturalized  in  our 
language  by  Coleridge,  under  the  terms  Reason  and  Understand- 
ing, or  as  Mr.  M.  prefers  to  designate  them,  the  Intuitional  and 
the  Logical  Consciousness,  he  affirms  inspiration  to  be  exclusively 
a  phenomenon  of  the  pure  reason.  It  is  simply  an  elevation  of 
the  intuitive  power  to  a  clearer  perception  of  spiritual  truth  than 
could  ordinarily  be  attained,  but  not  an  influence  extending  to  the 
reasoning  faculties  of  the  writers  so  as  to  insure  accuracy  of  prem- 
ises or  conclusion  ;  nor  to  their  memories,  securing  accuracy  of 
recollection;  nor  to  their  judgments,  ensuring  a  proper  selection 
of  facts  and  opinions  ;  nor  to  their  writing  of  these  views,  reason- 
ings or  recollections,  ensuring  a  fair,  truthful  and  infallible  record  : 
that  this  inspiration  is  not  generically  different  from  that  whicli 
poets  and  other  men  of  genius  enjoy,  or  from  a  high  degree  of  per- 
sonal holiness  ;  that  in  no  proper  sense  can  the  phrase  be  applied 
to  the  Bible  so  as  to  assert  it  to  be  an  infallible  rule  of  faith  and 
practice ;  that  the  writers  of  Scripture  do  not  claim  any  such  in- 
spiration for  their  writings ;  nor  is  any  such  consistent  with  the 
nature  of  the  human  mind.  Such  is  the  theory  which  he  ad- 
vances as  the  only  rational  hypothesis,  and  as  that  which  is  grad- 
ually taking  its  place  in  the  opinions  of  the  literary  and  philo- 
sophical world.  Let  us  first  look  at  the  arguments  on  which  he 
rests  it,  and  then  at  the  positive  evidence  against  it. 

It  is  affirmed  that  inspiration  being  a  state  of  the  mind,  it  is 
impossible  that  a  book  can  be  inspired  any  more  than  that  a  book 
can  reason  or  feel. 

At  first  sight  this  would  seem  to  be  a  mere  quibble  and  play 
upon  words,  but  the  prominence  given  to  it  by  Mr.  M.,  especially 
in  his  chapter  on  Revelation,  shows  that  he  regards  it  as  present- 
ing a  plain  impossibility  in  the  way  of  the  common  theory.  Bui, 
in  spite  of  the  value  which  he  evidently  attaches  to  it,  it  is  obvi- 
ously equivalent  to  the  allegation,  that  because  genius  is  an  at 
tribute  of  the  mind,  therefore  there  can  be  no  such  thing  as  a 
work  of  genius ;  or  because  imagination  and  reasoning  are  opera- 
tions of  the  mind,  therefore  there  can  be  no  work  of  poetry  or 
logic.  Granting  for  the  present,  that  the  inspiration  of  the  canon- 
ical writers  w'as  not  generically  different  from  that  of  the  poet  or 
the  philosopher,  it  will  at  least  follow,  that  they  are  governed  by 

18 


2f4  INSPIRAIION   OF   THE   SCRIPTURES. 

the  same  laws.  Now  it  is  certain,  that  there  is  no  impossibility 
in  giving  a  record  of  the  mental  operations  of  the  poet  and  the 
philosopher,  which  shall  be  a  fair  and  reliable  transcript  of  the 
subjective  states  of  mind  existing  in  each  particular  case,  and 
which  shall  be  rightfully  termed  poetry  and  philosophy.  Now,  if 
the  inspired  mind  perceives  spiritual  truth,  as  the  poet  and  phi- 
losopher perceive  poetic  and  philosophical  truth,  why  should  that 
be  impossible  in  the  one  case,  which  is  possible  in  the  other? 
Why  should  the  power  that  produced  the  inspiration  be  supposed 
incapable  of  extending  to  the  record,  and  securing  a  faithful  tran* 
script  ?  This  is  a  power  which  even  a  man  possesses  in  regard  to 
his  fellow,  why  should  it  be  denied  to  God  ?  If  one  man  may 
suggest  thoughts  to  the  mind  of  another,  may  induce  him  to  re- 
cord them  in  his  own  language,  and  may  superintend  that  record 
so  as  to  secure  a  faithful  representation  of  these  thoughts  in  words, 
why  should  the  same  power  be  denied  to  that  God  who  created 
man  and  gave  him  all  his  power?  It  would  surely  be  possible 
for  God  to  cause  a  human  mind  to  perceive  a  perfect  system  of 
mathematical  truth,  it  would  also  be  possible  for  him  so  to  influ- 
ence that  mind,  that  it  would  make  a  correct  record  of  this  system 
in  mathematical  language.  Such  a  record  would  then  be  an  in- 
fallible arbiter  to  which  an  appeal  could  be  carried  in  every  case 
of  disputed  mathematics.  Why  is  the  same  process  impossible  as 
to  religious  truth? 

It  is  said  with  an  air  of  triumph  in  reply  to  this,  that  such  a 
record  of  religious  truth  would  be  no  revelation  to  a  mind  that 
was  not  raised  to  the  same  level  of  spiritual  intuitions.  Granted, 
but  would  it  not  be  a  rev^elation  to  one  that  was  ?  The  revealed 
system  of  mathematical  truth  would  not  be  a  revelation  to  one 
who  had  no  mathematical  perceptions,  but  would  it  not  be  to  one 
who  had?  So  that  even  were  it  true,  that  the  inspired  writers 
recorded  nothing  but  that  which  could  be  comprehended  only  by 
one  who  was  capable  of  like  spiritual  intuitions,  still  it  would  be 
true  that  to  such  an  one  the  record  might  be  an  infallible  tran- 
script of  the  subjective  state  of  the  inspired  writer. 

But  it  is  not  true,  that  either  the  value  or  the  comprehension  of 
every  part  of  this  record,  is  limited  to  minds  capable  of  like  spir- 
itual intuitions,  any  more  than  it  is  true  that  the  value  and  com- 
prehension of  every  part  of  Newton's  Principia  are  limited  to 
minds  capable  of  the  same  mathematical  perceptions.  There  are 
many  scientific  truths  which  ordinary  minds  could  never  have  dis- 


INSPIRATION   OF   THE   SCRIPTURES.  I7S 

covered,  but  which  they  readily  comprehend  when  discovered,  as 
Columbus  has  shown  with  his  memorable  egg.  So  there  are 
many  things  which  the  unaided  human  mind  could  never  have 
originated  in  regard  to  spiritual  and  eternal  realities,  or  if  origin- 
ated, could  never  have  verified,  but  which,  when  once  stated  in 
language,  are  clearly  and  readily  comprehended. 

We  do  not  as  yet  affirm,  that  the  Scriptures  are  verbally 
inspired,  because  of  the  inspiration  of  the  writers,  but  we  do  affirm 
that  there  is  nothing  impossible  in  such  a  declaration  of  facts. 
As  an  executive  proclamation  may  be  declared  authoritative  be- 
cause of  the  authority  of  him  that  issued  it ;  as  a  will  may  he 
called  testamentary  because  of  the  devisory  powers  vested  in  the 
testator;  as  a  book  may  be  called  mathematical  because  of  the 
thoughts  which  a  mathematical  mind  has  embodied  in  it ;  so  may 
the  Scriptures  in  the  same  sense  be  called  inspired,  because  they 
set  forth  in  true  and  faithful  manifestation  the  mental  and  spirit- 
ual state  of  their  inspired  writers. 

This  preliminary  difficulty  being  removed,  we  meet  Mr.  M.  on 
the  ground  where,  after  all,  the  issue  must  be  decided,  the  con- 
tents of  the  book  itself.  He  affirms  that  these  contents  contra- 
dict the  theory  of  plenary,  verbal  inspiration,  and  demand  the 
one  under  discussion. 

It  is  said  that  if  the  Bible  had  come  from  God  in  this  plenary 
sense,  it  would  have  been  given  in  a  more  perfect  and  finished 
form,  and  not  in  that  fragmentary  and  successive  manner,  in  pur- 
suance of  which,  most  of  its  books  seem  to  have  been  forced  into 
existence  by  the  exigencies  of  existing  circumstances,  rather  than 
as  the  result  of  a  settled  plan  for  revealing  a  complete  system  of 
religious  truth. 

We  ask  in  return,  has  not  the  earth  come  forth  from  the  imme- 
diate hand  of  God  ?  W^hy  then  are  not  its  materials  arranged 
with  greater  regularity  ?  Why  are  its  rocks  not  located  accord- 
ing to  a  perfect  system  of  geology,  its  flora  according  to  a  perfect 
system  of  botany,  and  its  animals  according  to  a  perfect  system 
of  zoology  ?  If  there  are  reasons  of  convenience  to  man  requir- 
ing such  an  arrangement  of  God's  material  revelation  of  himself, 
may  not  the  same  arrangements  be  required  in  the  spiritual  reve- 
lation of  the  same  great  Nature?  And  if  these  arrangements  do 
not  blot  out  the  mighty  sign-manual  of  Jehovah  in  the  enduring 
rocks,  the  waving  forests,  and  the  roaming  tribes  of  living  things, 
or  cause  us  to  doubt  their  immediate  issue  from  his  hand,  why 


276  INSPIRATION   OF  THE  SCRIPTURES. 

should  they  have  this  effect  in  the  unfoldings  of  himself  in  his 
word  ?  If  he  built  not  the  might}'^  masonry  of  the  Alps  accord- 
ing to  any  of  the  five  orders  of  architecture,  and  channelled  not 
the  rolling  rush  of  the  Amazon  according  to  the  rules  of  the 
engineer,  why  should  we  demand  that  a  yet  more  wonderful 
revelation  of  himself  should  come  forth,  Minerva-like,  in  the 
hard,  polished  and  inflexible  panoply  of  a  rigid  methodical  science? 

If  it  be  replied  that  the  objection  is  rather  to  the  successive  and 
gradual  development  in  fragments  of  this  alleged  revelation,  than 
to  its  want  of  scientific  arrangement,  then  we  answer  this  by 
another  question.  Docs  not  the  geologist  tell  us  that  the  earth 
passed  through  many  stages  of  existence,  countless  ages  before 
it  was  fitted  for  man  in  its  present  form  ?  Is  it  not  passing 
through  such  changes  now  ?  Does  this  gradual  and  successive 
unfolding  of  its  states  militate  against  its  origin  immediately 
from  the  hand  of  God  ?  Why  then  should  the  same  fact  prove 
that  the  Bible  in  the  same  plenary  sense  cannot  be  the  product 
of  the  immediate  hand  of  Jehovah  ? 

If  it  be  objected  to  this  analogy,  that  the  revelation  of  God 
adduced  is  one  that  was  made  in  blind  unconscious  matter,  and 
not  in  living  and  conscious  spirits,  we  meet  the  evasion  from  an- 
other direction.  Those  with  whom  we  argue  now,  assert  that 
God  is  in  human  history,  and  that  aside  from  and  beyond  the 
agency  of  man,  there  is  a  direct  and  immediate  exertion  of  the 
Divine  finger  in  unfolding  its  great  principles  and  results.  Now 
has  not  the  Bible,  as  to  the  point  objected  to,  come  forth  precisely 
according  to  the  unfoldings  of  human  history?  Has  it  not  a 
clearness  of  arrangement,  an  unity  of  purpose,  and  a  completeness 
of  parts,  that  cannot  yet  be  affirmed  of  that  history  ?  If  then 
we  contend  that  in  like  wise,  above  and  beyond  the  human  im- 
,pulses  and  agencies  engaged  in  the  production  of  the  Bible,  there 
ivas  a  Divine  power  specially  directing  and  determining,  to  the 
kst  jot  and  tittle,  its  form  and  structure,  shall  the  fact  which 
does  not  disprove  such  an  interposition  in  the  world's  history,  dis- 
prove it  in  the  Scriptures? 

But  we  go  further  and  affirm,  that  this  state  of  facts  was  more 
imperatively  demanded  in  the  case  of  the  Scriptures  than  in  any 
of  the  others.  Why  was  God  made  manifest  in  the  flesh?  Ob- 
viously because  the  great  purposes  designed  to  be  effected  in  and 
for  the  human  race  by  the  incarnation,  demanded  that  the  Divine 
should  be  manifested  through  the  human,  and  not  through  the 


INSPIRATION   OF   THE   SCRIPTURES.  277 

angelic,  or  any  new  form  of  created  personal  existence.  Now 
the  very  same  necessities  demanded  likewise  that  the  revelation 
of  the  Divine  to  man  in  tliought,  emotion  and  word,  should  be 
made  through  human  minds  and  human  iiearts.  And  that  it 
may  come  in  contact  with  human  nature  at  all  its  points,  it  must 
not  be  made  through  but  one  man,  or  one  class  of  men,  but. 
through  such  a  variety  of  men  as  would  enable  the  Divine 
afflatus  to  breathe  through  the  whole  gamut  of  human  sympathy, 
emotion  and  character,  from  the  lowliest  fisherman  of  Galilee, 
and  the  humblest  herdsman  of  Tekoah,  to  the  loftiest  sage  of 
Egypt,  the  sublimest  bard  of  Judea,  and  the  subtlest  logician  of 
the  school  of  Gamaliel.  And  the  same  reasons  that  made  it 
needful  that  he  who  was  "  God  over  all,  blessed  forever,"  should 
manifest  himself  in  human  form  in  the  "  seed  of  David,"  made 
it  also  necessary  that  the  revelation  of  the  same  God  in  word, 
should  be  through  this  same  wondrous  Hebrew  race.  Were  the 
human  race  all  moulded  in  precisely  the  same  matrix  of  char- 
acter, thought,  emotion  and  external  position,  this  objection  to 
the  Bible  as  coming  directly  from  the  hand  of  God,  might  pos- 
sibly lie.  But  with  all  the  varieties  and  inequalities  of  human 
condition,  it  is  as  absurd  as  to  challenge  the  Divine  origin  of  the 
wondrous  vesture  of  atmosphere  that  wraps  the  round  earth,  be- 
cause at  one  time  it  lies  thin  and  cold  on  the  mountain  top,  at 
another  dense  and  heavy  in  the  valley  ;  at  one  time  hangs  red  and 
fiery  over  the  far-stretching  desert,  at  another  cool  and  transparent 
over  the  dewy  landscape  of  spring  ;  and  at  one  time  sleeps  softly 
and  pulselessly  in  the  still  calm,  and  at  another  rushes  wildly  and 
fearfully  in  the  terrible  hurricane.  Variety  marks  God's  handi- 
work in  nature,  and  cannot  therefore  disprove  it  in  revelation. 

The  defective  morality  of  the  Old  Testament  is  objected  to  its 
plenary  inspiration. 

If  this  means  that  the  standard  of  actual  attainment  in  prac- 
tical ethics  was  lower  under  the  Old  Testament  than  under  the 
New,  we  concede  it,  but  this  fact  does  not  touch  the  question  of 
the  inspiration  of  these  books.  They  record  the  precise  facts  of 
the  case  with  infallible  accuracy,  and  on  the  correctness  of  this 
record  we  can  rely,  for  the  very  reason  that  it  is  an  inspired  docu- 
ment. If  however  the  objection  means  that  the  standard  of 
requisition  was  lower,  we  meet  it  with  an  emphatic  denial. 
Christ  gave  no  moral  law  that  was  not  found  in  the  Old  Testa- 
ment, and  corrected  nothing  of  what  was  said  in  the  old  time  but 


278  iNSPiSATlON  OF  THE  SCRIPTtJKES. 

the  corrupt  glosses  and  traditions  of  the  fathers.  The  evil  con- 
duct of  Noah  and  David  are  recorded  in  warning  and  condemna- 
tion in  the  Old  Testament  precisely  as  we  have  that  of  Judas  and 
Peter  in  the  New.  And  in  regard  to  acts  and  customs  which  are 
there  approved,  such  as  are  not  and  ought  not  to  be  permitted 
now,  we  affirm  that  under  the  particular  circumstances  of  the 
case,  they  were  perfectly  consistent  with  the  immutable  principles 
of  morality.  The  Levirate  law,  the  law  of  the  avenger  of  blood, 
the  water  of  jealousy,  the  judicial  rule  of  the  lex  talionis,  and 
similar  institutions,  had  their  origin  in  that  partly  nomadic  and 
imperfect  state  of  social  life  from  which  the  Hebrew  tribes  sprang, 
and  were  sanctioned  and  regulated  because  it  was  better  to  allow 
them  temporarily  to  exist  than  violently  to  abolish  them ;  and 
existing  by  consent  of  society  and  permission  of  God,  they  violated 
no  principle  of  morality.  The  spoiling  of  the  Egyptians,  the  ex- 
termination of  the  Canaanites,  and  similar  acts,  were  done  by 
the  command  of  God ;  were  right  then,  and  if  commanded  by 
God  would  not  be  wrong  now.  The  rights  of  life  and  property 
are  not  absolute  in  man,  but  only  contingent  on  the  will  of  God, 
and  he  may  take  them  away,  either  by  a  pestilence  and  a  whirl- 
wind, or  by  the  squadrons  of  an  invading  army.  Men  in  such 
cases  are  but  the  executioners,  and  surely  it  will  not  be  denied 
that  the  right  to  dispose  of  human  life  and  property  according  to 
his  will,  is  vested  in  the  Creator  and  Sovereign  of  all,  in  the 
highest  and  most  absolute  sense.  In  all  this  then  there  is  noth- 
ing that  contradicts  a  plenary  verbal  inspiration. 
^-  The  inconsistency  of  the  Bible  with  the  results  of  modern 
scientific  research  is  also  objected. 

There  is  usually  much  inattention  or  much  disingenuousness 
evinced  in  pressing  this  argument.  It  is  affirmed  with  great 
triumph  that  the  writers  of  the  Bible  were  ignorant  of  many  of 
the  facts  of  natural  science,  and  hence  have  used  language  in 
regard  to  the  phenomena  of  the  physical  world  to  which  they  at- 
tached conceptions  scientifically  incorrect.  This  is  deemed  suf- 
ficient to  prove  that  the}^  did  not  possess  a  plenary  inspiration. 
We  grant  that  these  writers  often  used  language  to  which  they 
may  have  attached  notions  in  their  own  minds,  which,  owing  to 
their  ignorance  of  natural  science,  were  scientifically  false.  But 
we  affirm  that  this  language,  when  fairly  interpreted,  does  not  as- 
sert these  scientific  errors,  and  that,  as  we  shall  subsequently  show, 
their  remarkable  preservation   from  t  le  declaration  of  scientific 


INSPIRATION   OF  THE   SCRIPTURES.  279 

error  is  one  of  the  most  signal  indications  of  the  superintending 
inspiration  of  the  Holy  Ghost.  Nor  is  this  peculiar  to  the  lati- 
g^uage  that  refers  to  natural  phenomena.  The  writers  of  Scrip- 
ture often  used  language  the  real  and  full  signification  of  which 
they  did  not  and  could  not  understand.  The  Apostle  Peter  directly 
affirms  this  fact  when  he  states  (1  Pet.  i.  10-12)  that  after  the 
ancient  prophets  wro^e  their  prophecies  they  sat  down  reverently 
to  study  their  meaning,  •'  searching  what  or  what  manner  of  time 
the  Spirit  of  Christ  which  was  in  them  did  signify,  when  it  testi- 
fied beforehand  the  sufferings  of  Christ,  and  the  glory  that  should 
follow :  unto  whom  it  was  revealed,  that  not  unto  themselves,  but 
unto  us  they  did  minister  the  things  which  are  now  reported  unto 
you  by  them  that  have  preached  the  gospel  unto  you  with  the 
Holy  Ghost  sent  down  from  Heaven."  When  Malachi  declared 
that  Elijah  must  come,  we  cannot  suppose  that  he  thought  of  John 
the  Baptist.  And  when  David  declared  "  they  parted  my  garments 
among  them,  and  on  my  vesture  did  they  cast  lots,"  we  cannot 
believe  that  he  saw  the  gambling  of  the  Roman  soldiers  on  Calvary. 
But  in  these  and  similar  cases,  the  writers  used  language  attach- 
ing certain  conceptions  to  it,  which  we  now  see,  not  only  fairly 
bears  another  signification,  but  was  actually  designed  to  have  such 
a  meaning,  and  hence  we  give  it  that  interpretation.  So  we  af- 
firm that  in  precise  accordance  with  this  general  principle  which 
runs  through  the  whole  Bible,  Moses,  Job,  Joshua  and  David  used 
language  referring  to  natural  phenomena,  to  which  they  attached 
conceptions  corresponding  with  the  cosmogony  and  astronomy  of 
the  age  ;  but  we  contend  that  in  no  case  have  they  been  allowed 
to  assert  the  truth  of  these  scientific  misconceptions.  They  either 
used  language  that  is  susceptible  of  an  interpretation  conformable 
to  the  truth,  or  they  used  the  popular  forms  of  speech  that  describe 
things  as  they  seem  to  be,  and  not  as  they  are. 

We  are  flippantly  told  that  Joshua  talks  of  the  sun  standing 
still ;  that  David  speaks  of  a  Hades,  which  he  supposed  to  be  under 
the  earth  ;  that  Paul  speaks  of  a  third  Heaven  which  he  supposed 
to  be  just  beyond  the  stellar  dome  ;  and  that  all  the  writers  on  the 
work  of  redemption  speak  of  the  earth  as  possessing  an  impor- 
tance which  astronomy  shows  it  does  not  possess  in  the  universe. 

But  we  ask  the  objector,  does  not  every  treatise  on  practical  as- 
tronomy speak  of  the  sun  rising,  and  setting,  and  crossing  the  line 
of  the  equinox,  when  in  strictness  these  things  are  not  so  ?  Bui 
is  any  one  ever  deceived  ?     Is  not  this  use  of  language  an  abso  - 


280  INSPIRATION   OF   THE   SCRIPTURES. 

late  necessity  unless  we  would  talk  nonsense  or  confusion  ?  And 
whatever  David  thought,  does  he  anywhere  assert  that  Hades  is 
under  the  earth  ?  Does  he  ever  do  more  than  use  language  in- 
telligible to  his  contemporaries?  And  does  Paul  anywhere  assert 
that  Heaven  is  a  mere  third  story  in  the  great  ascending  circles  of 
the  creation  ?  If  then,  to  show  those  to  whom  he  wrote  that  he 
meant,  not  the  atmospheric  or  stellar  Heaven,  but  the  Paradise  of 
God,  he  used  the  common  designation,  the  third  Heavens,  did  he 
affirm  any  proposition  that  Lord  Rosse's  telescope  shows  to  be  un- 
true? And  when  the  Scripture  doctrine  of  redemption  gives  the 
earth  an  importance  of  position  that  is  not  assigned  to  it  by  as- 
tronomy, does  it  follow  that  these  representations  are  mutually 
contradictory?  Does  not  history  give  to  Thermopylae,  Actium 
and  Waterloo  an  importance  that  geography  does  not?  But  are 
these  representations,  though  both  correct,  in  any  real  contradic- 
tion? Would  not  any  man  be  called  a  fool  who  would  question 
the  statements  of  history  as  to  the  stupendous  influence  that  the 
scenes  there  enacted  have  had  on  the  world's  destiny,  because 
these  spots  are  not  as  large  as  many  a  gentleman's  plantation  ? 
When,  therefore,  the  Bible  asserts  that  the  earth  is  the  very  Ther- 
mopylse  of  the  universe,  shall  this  same  objection  be  flaunted  in 
our  faces,  as  a  mark  of  superior  wisdom  and  scientific  culture? 

Suppose  a  fragment  were  found  in  some  writer  anterior  to  the 
age  of  Hesiod,  asserting  that  the  sky  which  hung  over  the  north 
pole  was  not  upheld  b}^  the  walls  of  a  crystal  sphere  as  some 
contended,  but  was  suspended  over  the  void  of  empty  space,  and 
that  the  earth  itself  was  self-poised  over  nothing,  would  not  such 
a  passage  be  triumphantly  adduced  by  the  scholar  as  a  most  ama- 
zing anticipation  of  astronomical  science  in  later  times  ?  And  yet 
when  we  find  in  a  writer  older  than  the  very  language  of  Greece, 
the  sublime  couplet, 

"  He  spreadeth  the  north  over  the  empty  space, 
And  hangith  the  earth  upon  nothing:"* 

such  a  fragment  is  skipped  over  with  a  contemptuous  fling  at  He- 
brew cosmogony. 

The  same  unfairness  appears  in  the  objections  drawn  from 
geology.  The  Bible  nowhere  affirms  that  the  matter  of  the  world 
is  but  six  thousand  years  old.  On  the  contrary,  when  it  speaks 
of  the  earth  as  compared  with  the  race  of  man  that  lives  upon  it, 

*  Job  xxvi.  7. 


INSPIRATION   OF  THE   SCRIPTURES.  281 

it.  represents  the  one  as  the  fitting  type  of  that  high  and  solitary 
One  who  is  from  everlasting  to  everlasting,  while  the  other  is  as 
the  grass  which  in  the  morning  flourisheth  and  groweth  up,  and 
in  the  evening  is  cut  down  and  withereth.  It  simply  affirms  of 
the  Heavens  and  the  earth  that  in  the  beginning  they  were  created 
by  God.  Does  geology  contradict  this  ?  It  also  affirms  that  about 
six  thousand  years  ago,  the  earth  received  in  six  days  substantially 
its  present  arrangement,  from  a  pre-existent  state  of  chaotic  con- 
fusion, and  it  describes  this  sublime  scene  with  graphic  and  dra- 
matic beauty,  as  it  would  have  appeared  to  a  spectator  standing 
on  the  earth  and  gazing  on  these  mighty  changes  as  they  went 
forward.  Does  geology  contradict  this,  or  show  it  to  be  impossible  1 
It  asserts  that  some  four  thousand  years  ago  there  was  an  univer- 
sal deluge  of  waters,  miraculously  and  judicially  spread  over  the 
earth.  Now  even  if  the  flood-marks  that  were  once  pointed  out 
as  traces  of  the  deluge,  may  be  explained  on  other  grounds,  is 
there  anything  in  geological  researches  that  contradicts  the  testi- 
mony of  history  and  tradition  in  regard  to  this  great  and  awful 
fact?  Does  geology  do  anything  more  than  leave  it  an  open  ques- 
tion? Whilst  then  we  admire  this  young  Titan  of  the  sciences  a? 
it  upheaves  the  foundations  of  the  earth,  and  shows  us  the  mighty 
corner-stones  of  its  structure ;  and  whilst  we  are  grateful  to  it  for 
its  contributions  to  natural  and  even  remotely  to  revealed  theology  ; 
yet  when  it  leaves  its  pickaxe  and  hammer  among  the  rocks,  and 
attempts  on  some  Pelion  or  Ossa  of  gigantic  speculation  to  scale 
the  battlements  of  God's  own  council  chamber,  and  impeach  the 
fidelity  of  a  record  with  which  it  has  legitimately  nothing  to  do, 
we  must  meet  it  with  the  stern  words  that  came  to  the  startled 
Emir  of  Uz,  from  the  dark  throat  of  the  storm — 

"  Who  ia  this  that  darkeneth  counsel  by  words  without  knowledge  ? 
Gird  up  now  thy  loins  like  a  man  ; 
I  will  put  questions  to  thee,  and  do  thou  inform  me. 
Where  wast  thou  when  I  founded  the  earth? 
Declare,  if  thou  hast  knowledge  ! 

Who  then  fixed  the  measure  of  it?     For  thou  knoweBt! 
Who  stretched  the  line  upon  it? 
Upon  what  are  its  foundations  settled  ? 
Or  who  laid  its  corner-stone  ? 
When  the  morning  stars  sang  together. 
And  all  the  sons  of  God  shouted  for  joy  ? 
Who  shut  up  the  sea  with  doors 
In  its  bursting  forth  as  from  the  womb  ? 
When  I  made  the  cloud  its  garment, 


282  INSPIRATION   OF  THE   SCRIPTURES. 

And  swathed  it  in  thick  darkness  ? 

I  measured  out  for  it  my  limits, 

And  fixed  its  bars  and  doors ; 

And  said,  thus  far  shalt  thou  come,  but  no  further, 

And  here  shall  thy  proud  waves  be  stayed  !"* 

Whilst  we  know  the  dignified  and  reverent  response  that  will 
be  made  by  the  truly  philosophical  geologist  to  this  sublime  chal- 
lenge ;  whilst  we  rejoice  to  meet  in  the  Bucklands,  the  Pye  Smiths, 
the  Millers,  and  the  Hitchcocks,  men  not  more  eminent  for  their 
love  of  God's  works  than  their  reverence  for  God's  word  ;  and 
whilst  we  freely  acquit  this  noble  science  of  any  antagonism  or 
hostility  to  revelation  honestly  interpreted,  yet  we  also  know  that 
the  stern  rebuke  it  conveys  is  richly  deserved  by  the  sciolist  and 
the  smatterer,  who  ignorant  or  forgetful  of  the  legitimate  province 
of  human  science  betakes  himself  to  world-building  and  world- 
dreaming  about  "  the  natural  history  of  creation." 

We  cannot  go  into  any  farther  detail  in  meeting  this  class  of 
objections,  having  said  enough  to  indicate  the  general  principles 
on  which  all  the  alleged  discrepancies  of  scientific  truth  with 
revelation,  may  be  fully  and  fairly  met  and  set  aside.  When  the 
Bible  is  fairly  interpreted,  there  is  no  such  discrepancy  with  any 
established  fact  of  science.  The  fancies  of  interpreters  and  the 
fancies  of  philosophers  may  conflict,  but  fancies  are  not  facts,  and 
neither  science  nor  revelation  should  be  held  accountable  for 
the  follies  of  their  friends.  God  speaking  in  his  works,  can  never 
contradict  God  speaking  in  his  word,  and  we  need  give  ourselves 
no  anxiety  about  any  possible  inconsistency  between  the  two 
utterances.  The  watchful  and  hostile  jealousy  with  which  science 
has  sometimes  been  regarded  by  good  men,  as  something  fraught 
with  possible  danger  to  the  truth  of  revelation,  is  as  impolitic  as 
it  is  unreasonable.  Let  the  students  of  each  explore  their  own 
department  without  any  jealous  or  suspicious  reference  to  the 
other,  and  their  results  in  the  end,  when  clearly  reached,  will  be 
found  as  perfectly  consistent  as  the  laws  of  astronomy  and  the 
facts  of  geology;  like  them,  the  one  is  of  heaven  and  the  other 
of  earth,  but  both  the  interpreters  of  him  who  has  made  both 
heaven  and  earth. 

We  do  not  affirm  that  everything  in  the  Bible  is  true,  but  we 
do  affirm  that  everything  which  the  Bible  says  to  be  true,  is  true. 
We  do  not  affirm  that  all  the  opinions  set  forth,  and  all  the  acts 

*  Job  xxxviii.  1-11.    Barnes'  translation. 


INSPIRATION    OF   THE   SCRIPTURES.  283 

recorded  there  are  right ;  but  we  do  aflirm  that  these  opinions  were 
held  and  these  acts  done,  pre^.sely  as  they  are  represented.  We 
do  not  affirm  that  Moses  understood  geology,  David  the  Coper- 
nican  system,  or  Paul  the  categories  and  predicables  of  logic ;  but 
we  do  affirm  that  neither  Moses  nor  David  have  declared  any- 
thing to  be  scientifically  true,  which  is  scientifically  false ;  and  that 
if.  Paul  sometimes  reaches  his  conclusion  by  one  gigantic  bound, 
mstead  of  climbing  the  slow  ladder  of  an  authorized  syllogism,  he 
yet  never  reaches  a  conclusion  that  is  untrue,  or  asserts  a  premise 
that  is  untenable.  And  if  the  grinders  of  Kant's  categories  say 
that  they  cannot  understand  some  of  Paul's  reasonings,  and  that 
they  seem  to  them  palpably  illogical,  we  have  only  to  remind  them 
of  the  gruff  response  of  the  old  literary  Leviathan  to  a  similar 
objection,  "Sir,  I  am  bound  to  furnish  you  with  arguments,  not 
brains." 

It  is  affirmed  that  the  writers  of  the  Bible  do  not  claim  such  a 
power  as  we  ascribe  to  them.  If  by  this  is  meant,  that  each 
writer  does  not  in  express  and  formal  terms  always  announce, 
that  he  is  commissioned  to  write  by  the  inspiration  of  the  Holy 
Ghost,  we  grant  it.  Suppose  that  they  had  made  this  constant 
reiteration  of  plenary  authority,  would  it  not  then  have  been 
objected,  that  this  anxious  solicitude  to  assert  these  pretensions 
implied  a  secret  conviction  that  there  was  too  much  ground  to 
question  them?  Is  not  this  uneasy  assertion  of  divine  authority, 
such  as  we  see  in  the  Koran  or  the  book  of  Mormon,  one  of  the 
recognized  marks  of  imposture?  If  this  feature  had  been  found 
in  the  Bible  as  the  objection  demands,  would  not  the  philosophic 
eye  have  detected  in  it  the  want  of  that  grand  and  lofty  indiflfer- 
ence,  that  feeling  of  the  self-evidencing  character  of  their  claims, 
that  is  the  characteristic  of  all  true  power  and  all  divine  impulse? 
Does  every  message  of  a  President  or  a  King  contain  a  formal 
statement  of  the  right  by  which  he  thus  speaks?  Does  every  act 
and  record  of  a  legislature  contain  the  commissions  and  certificates 
of  election  by  virtue  of  which  its  members  enact  laws?  Does 
every  paper  of  an  ambassador  contain  a  formal  assertion  of  his 
plenipotentiary  powers?  Would  not  such  a  thing  be  either  sus- 
picious or  ridiculous?  Why  then  is  it  demanded  of  the  writers 
of  the  Bible  ? 

Do  you  say  that  it  is  unreasonable  to  ask  you  to  receive  these 
books  as  authoritative,  without  some  authentication  of  their  author- 
ity?    We  grant  it;  but  reply  that  it  is  equally  unreasonable  to 


284  INSPIRATION   OF  THE  SCRIPTURES. 

demand  this  particular  form  of  authentication,  and  be  satisfied 
with  no  other,  when  it  is  freely  dispensed  with  in  analogous  cases. 
Let  the  authority  of  a  man  to  write,  speak  or  act,  be  distinctly 
recognized  and  sanctioned  by  those  competent  to  decide  on  his 
qualifications,  and  whether  he  asserts  it  or  not,  we  are  bound  to 
admit  it  on  the  endorsement  of  these  competent  judges.  If  then 
these  writers  have  sometimes  asserted  positively  that  they  were 
speaking  the  very  words  of  God,  using  such  formulas  as  "  thus 
saith  the  Lord,"  &c. ;  if,  in  other  cases,  they  have  asserted  it 
impliedly  by  the  awful  authority  they  claim  for  the  words  they 
utter,  and  the  terrible  sanctions  they  assert  as  belonging  to  them ; 
if,  in  other  cases,  an  authentication  was  given  them  by  those 
whose  circumstances  enabled  them  to  decide  upon  the  proofs  of 
their  commission ;  if  the  entire  volume  was  regarded  by  them  as 
the  work  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  and  designated  by  specific  titles,  such 
as  the  oracles  of  God,  the  Scriptures,  <fcc.  &.C.,  the  absence  of  this 
formal  claim  in  each  particular  case,  cannot  be  held  to  disprove 
the  alleged  inspiration  of  the  Spirit.  That  the  marks  above 
named  are  found  in  all  the  canonical  books,  is  full}^  shown  in  any 
ordinary  treatise  on  the  Canon  of  Scripture. 

But  if  the  absence  of  a  formal  claim  to  a  verbal  inspiration  be 
an  argument  against  its  existence,  a  similar  omission  as  to  any 
other  kind  of  inspiration  must  be  equally  conclusive  against  its 
existence.  Now  it  so  happens,  that  the  writers  of  the  Scriptures  in 
no  instance  claim  any  such  inspiration  as  Mr.  M.  refers  to  them, 
nor  is  it  even  pretended,  that  they  have  ever  done  so.  If  then 
this  alleged  absence  of  claim  (which  we  do  not  admit)  disproved 
the  verbal  theory,  much  more  must  it  disprove  the  one  brought  in 
its  place,  for  the  wildest  dreamer  has  never  pretended,  that  the 
writers  of  the  Scriptures  claimed  to  be  simply  enhghtened  as  to 
their  intuitive  consciousness.  This  objection  then,  if  it  proves  any- 
thing, proves  too  much,  for  it  strikes  Mr.  M.'s  theory  even  more 
fatally  than  it  does  that  of  plenary  verbal  inspiration. 

But  the  most  extraordinary  position  taken  by  M.  Morell  is,  that 
the  primitive  church  did  not  regard  these  books  as  verbally 
inspired.  This  is  a  marvellous  assertion  in  the  direct  view  of  the 
very  superstition  with  which  many  in  the  primitive  church  regard- 
ed the  mere  words  of  the  Scripture  ;  the  mysteries  that  they  often 
found  in  the  very  letters  of  Holy  Writ,  and  the  controversies  that 
existed  as  to  the  right  of  some  books  to  be  admitted  into  the 
Canon.     We  cannot  enter  into  the  proof  of  this  position  in  detail, 


INSPIRATION   OF  THE   SCRIPTURES.  285 

but  must  be  content  with  referring  to  sources  where  that  proof  is 
spread  out  at  length.  Dr.  Rudelbach,  a  German,  has  collected 
the  testimonies  to  this  point  with  great  industry  and  patience. 
And  to  those  to  whom  this  work  is  not  accessible,  we  may  recom- 
mend Paley's  Evidences,  Lardner's  Credibility  ;  Daille  on  the 
Fathers,  book  2,  chap.  2 ;  Jeremy  Taylor's  Ductor  Dubitantium, 
book  2,  ch.  3,  rule  14 ;  Bingham's  Antiquities,  book  14,  ch.  3 ;  or 
Whitby's  Prefaces  in  his  Commentary  on  the  New  Testament.  In 
any  of  these,  enough  will  be  found  to  show  that  this  assertion  is 
grossly  incorrect. 

Such  then  is  the  defence  that  is  set  up  for  this  theory  of  inspi- 
ration, which  after  all  is  not  so  much  a  defence  as  an  attack.  It 
is  remarkable,  that  in  accordance  with  the  ancient  tactics  on  this 
question,  the  only  plea  set  up  for  the  new  theory  is  an  assault 
upon  the  old,  as  if  the  overthrow  of  the  one  was  the  necessary 
establishment  of  the  other.  As  then  we  have  seen  these  objections 
to  be  unfounded,  the  old  theory  remains  unharmed,  whilst  the 
new  one,  by  its  own  chosen  mode  of  warfare,  is  defeated.  Here 
then'  we  might  pause,  but  that  the  truth  may  be  triumphantly 
vindicated,  we  shall  take  a  new  position  and  pass  from  the  attitude 
of  defence  to  that  of  attack.  We  turn  now  to  the  positive  evidence 
against  this  theory. 

The  first  objection  we  urge  against  this  theory  is,  that  it  is  a 
mere  figment,  invented  without  any  reference  to  the  facts  to  be 
explained,  or  the  phenomena  to  be  elucidated. 

Sidney  Smith  once  wittily  objected  to  reading  a  book  before 
reviewing  it,  because  it  had  such  a  tendency  to  prejudice  a  man. 
One  would  be  almost  disposed  to  think  that  Mr.  M.  had  taken  the 
advice  of  tiie  laughter-loving  Canon  of  St.  Paul's.  He  under- 
takes to  describe  the  subjective  condition  of  inspired  men,  and  yet 
not  once  does  he  refer  to  the  account  given  by  these  men  them- 
selves of  their  state  of  mind.  He  professes  to  furnish  a  theory 
that  shall  explain  all  the  facts  of  the  case,  yet  never  once  alludes 
to  those  facts  in  constructing  this  theory.  He  assumes  a  certain 
psychology,  and  because  he  cannot  find  in  its  ordinary  workings 
such  a  phenomenon  as  verbal  inspiration,  he  denies  its  existence, 
in  the  very  face  of  the  reiterated  affirmation  that  this  is  not  one 
of  the  ordinary,  but  one  of  the  extraordinary,  phases  of  the  human 
soul.  He  forms  his  theor}'^  and  then  tells  us  that  if  the  facts  are 
not  conformable  to  it,  they  ought  to  be,  and  gives  himself  no  fur- 
ther trouble  with  them.     This  mode  of  procedure  in  constructing 


286  INSPIRATION   OF   THE   SCRIPTURES. 

any  hypothesis  is  unphilosophical,  but  in  framing  a  theory  on 
facts  so  unique  and  solemn  as  these,  it  is  unpardonable. 

But  it  is  not  only  constructed  without  reference  to  the  facts  to 
be  explained,  but  also  in  direct  inconsistency  with  them. 

It  asserts  that  inspiration  belongs  to  the  writers  of  Scripture, 
but  not  to  the  Scripture  itself.     This  assertion  is  flatly  contradicted 
in  the  account  given  by  the  writers  themselves  of  the  matter. 
2  Tim.  iii.  16,  "  All  Scripture  is  given  by  inspiration  of  God,  and  is 
profitable  for  doctrine,  for  reproof,  for  correction,  for  instruction  in 
righteousness."     Here  it  is  asserted  that  the  writing  is  inspired, 
and  not  simply  the  writers,  and  a  writing  can  be  inspired  only  by 
a  verbal  inspiration.     The  theopneusty  is  affirmed  of  the  Scrip- 
ture and  not  of  the  writers.     If  it  be  asked  what  is  meant  by  this 
theopneusty,  or  inspiration  of  God,  we  are  answered  in  2  Pet.  i.  21, 
"  Holy  men  of  God  spake  as  they  were  moved  by  the  Holy  Ghost." 
The  words  of  Scripture  then  were  the  result  of  the  action  of  the 
Holy  Ghost  on  the  minds  of  the  writers,  and  therefore,  the  sub- 
jects of  inspiration.     To  place  this  beyond  all  question,  the  same 
Apostle  asserts  (1  Pet.  i.  10-12),  that  these  men  did  not  always 
know  the  full  significance  of  the  words  they  were  directed  to  use, 
but  searched  into  their  meaning,  because  these  words  were  in- 
tended rather  for  a  later  age  of  the  Church  than  for  that  which 
first  received  them.     And  this  language  is  sanctioned  by  our  Lord 
himself  when  he  affirms.  Matt.  xxii.  43,  that  David  spake  by  the 
Holy  Ghost  when  inditing  the  Psalms  ;  and  extended  to  the  whole 
Jewish  Canon,  when  he  appeals  to  the  Scriptures  on  every  ques- 
tion concerning  truth  and  duty,  stating  that  they  cannot  be  broken 
(John  X.  34,  35) ;  that  they  are  an  infallible  tribunal  of  appeal 
in  every  question  as  to  God's  will  (Matt.  xix.  4-6 ;  John  v.  39), 
thus  sanctioning  the  doctrine  of  the  Jewish  Church  as  to  these 
writings,  that  they  are  truly  the  word  of  God.     And  this  verbal 
inspiration  is  affirmed  by  our  Lord  yet  more  emphatically,  when 
we  find  him  at  times  basing  important  arguments  on  the  mere 
and  apparently  casual  use  of  a  word,  as  in  the  case  of  the  doc- 
trine of  the  resurrection.      Matt.  xxii.  32.      It   is  also  implied, 
where  he  directs  the  Jews  to  search   the  Scriptures,  as  a  perfect 
standard  of  truth,  and  declares  that  whilst  heaven  and  earth  shall 
pass  away,  not  one  jot  or  tittle  of  them  shall  ever  pass  away  un- 
fulfilled.    These  strong  afllirmations  it  must  be  noted  were  made 
not  of  the  mental  state  of  the  writers,  but  of  their  writings,  thus 
endorsing  the  claim  set  up  for  these  writings  as  the  word  of  God, 


INSPIEATION   OF   THE   SCRIPTURES.  287 

the  oracles  of  God,  and  the  writings  that  stood  apart  and  sacred 
from  all  others  as  the  infalHble  standard  of  truth  and  duty.  This 
high  claim  was'extended  from  the  Old  Testament  to  the  New  by 
Peter,  when  he  classed  the  writings  of  Paul  with  the  other  Scrip- 
tures, 2  Pet.  iii.  16.  How  far  this  divine  superintendence  and 
authority  extended,  is  explained  by  Paul  when  he  says,  1  Cor. 
ii.  13,  "Which  things  we  speak  not  in  the  wore?*  which  man's 
wisdom  teacheth,  but  wiiich  the  Holy  Ghost  teacheth  ;"  and  also, 

1  Thess.  ii.  13,  "When  ye  received  the  word  of  God  which  ye 
heard  of  us,  ye  received  it  not  as  the  word  of  men,  but  as  it  is  in 
truth,  the  word  of  God."  And  .lest  this  should  be  referred  to  his 
oral  rather  than  his  written  instructions,  he  expressly  affirms  in 

2  Cor.  X.  11,  and  2  Thess.  ii.  15,  that  they  are  of  equal  author- 
ity. When,  therefore,  it  is  affirmed  that  all  Scripture  is  inspired  ; 
that  the  very  wdids  are  taught  by  the  Holy  Ghost;  when  Paul 
explains  in  what  sense  he  uses  this  language,  as  to  his  own  wri- 
tings, and  Peter  extends  this  sense  to  all  the  rest,  by  classifying 
Paul's  writings  with  "  the  other  Scriptures,"  can  there  be  a  more 

,  audacious  misstatement  than  that  which  alleges  that  these  men 
do  not  claim  for  their  writings  the  plenary  verbal  inspiration  of 
the  Holy  Ghost? 

This  theory  is  contradicted  by  the  authority  which  these  writers 
claim  for  their  writings. 

A  clear  and  broad  distinction  is  made  between  these  and  all 
other  writings,  declaring  the  one  to  be  the  word  of  man,  the  other 
the  word  of  God.  Many  of  them  prefix  to  their  statements  the 
formula,  "thus  saith  tlie  Lord,"  which,  if  it  means  anything, 
must  mean  that  the  words  they  were  about  to  utter,  were  not 
theirs,  but  God's.  Hence  they  claim  the  most  awful  authority  for 
everything  that  they  say,  and  demand  our  unconditional  belief 
under  the  most  terrific  penalties.  They  say,  "  We  are  of  God. 
He  that  knoweth  God,  heareth  us,"  1  John  iv.  6 ;  "  We  command 
you,  brethren,  in  the  name  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,"  2  Thess.  iii.  6 ; 

-•*y  u  jjg  jj^jjj^  d^spiseth,  despiseth  not  man  but  God,"  1  Thess.  ii.  13. 
If  an  angel  from  heaven  preach  any  other  gospel,  let  him  be  ac- 
cursed. Here  is  an  authority  the  most  fearful  known  to  men, 
claimed  to  challenge  belief.  Belief  is  the  assent  of  the  mind  to  a 
proposition.  A  proposition  must  be  set  forth  in  words.  To  de- 
mand belief,  therefore,  under  sanctions  so  terrible,  is  to  claim  an 
authority  for  their  words  which  can  only  be  explained  on  the 
theory  of  their  plenary  verbal  inspiration. 


288  INSPIRATION   OF  THE  SCRIPTURES. 

This  theory  is  contradicted  by  the  specific  promises  of  Christ 
made  to  his  disciples. 

'  Every  man  who  has  a  new  discovery  in  science  to  announce  to 
the  world,  takes  care  to  secure  such  a  vehicle  of  transmission  as 
shall,  with  all  possible  accuracy,  declare  precisely  what  his  discov- 
eries are.  Every  government  which  has  any  great  transaction  to 
proclaim,  whether  it  be  a  law,  a  treaty,  or  an  amnesty  on  specified 
conditions,  uses  great  care  in  securing  correctness  in  its  records, 
that  these  records  may  clearly  and  certainly  set  forth  the  precise 
facts  which  are  necessary  to  be  known,  in  a  form  that  will  be 
trustworthy  and  reliable.  Were  a  government  to  be  careless  on 
this  point,  it  would  be  justly  chargeable  with  a  gross  and  criminal 
indifference  to  the  interests  and  rights  of  its  subjects.  It  was 
justly  regarded  as  one  of  the  most  atrocious  marks  of  tyranny 
and  injustice  in  a  Roman  emperor,  that  he  enacted  laws  and 
caused  them  to  be  hung  up  so  high  on  pillars  that  no  one  could 
with  certainty  and  distinctness  make  out  their  precise  requisi- 
tions. 

Now  if  it  be  true  that  there  are  great  discoveries  of  life  and  im- 
mortality to  be  brought  to  light  in  the  gospel,  is  it  credible  that 
no  special  arrangements  would  be  made  to  secure  the  record  of 
these  discoveries  in  language  that  will  not  deceive  or  mislead? 
If  the  government  of  God  has  laws  to  proclaim,  treaties  of  rfecon- 
ciliation  to  propose,  and  amnesties  of  pardon  on  certain  conditions 
to  offer,  would  it  not  be  a  refinement  of  cruelty  beyond  that  of 
Caligula,  to  require  us  to  conform  to  these  high  transactions  on 
peril  of  eternal  penalties,  and  yet  make  no  arrangements  by  which 
we  should  certainly  know  what  they  were?  Would  it  not  be 
monstrous  to  suppose  that  these  awful  utterances  of  the  Eternal 
voices  were  flung  forth  to  the  winds,  with  less  care  to  secure  the 
certain  accuracy  of  their  record  than  was  given  to  the  leaves  that 
came  forth  from  the  cave  of  the  Cumsean  Sibyl?  The  supposi- 
tion is  incredible,  yet  it  is  the  precise  supposition  required  by  the 
theory  under  discussion.  But  what  ai;e  the  facts  of  the  case? 
Uid  Jesus  Christ,  after  such  unspeakable  toil  and  agony  to  work 
out  a  plan  of  salvation  for  man,  make  no  arrangements  for  its 
secure  record  and  transmission  to  those  for  whom  it  was  intended  ? 
Did  he  do  even  less  than  Caligula,  who  at  least  caused  his  enact- 
ments to  be  written?  Did  he  treat  this  most  wondrous  of  all  the 
productions  of  creative  might,  as  the  ostrich  treats  her  egg,  leav- 
ing its  preservation  to  the  oversight  of  mere  chance?     No!     He 


INSPIRATION   OF   THE   SCRIPTURES.  289 

promised  a  specific  divine  assistance  in  communicating  this  reli- 
gion to  men.  "The  Holy  Ghost  shall  teach  you  what  you  ought 
to  say."  "  The  Holy  Ghost  shall  teach  you  all  things."  "  He 
shall  guide  you  into  all  truth,  for  he  shall  not  speak  of  himself, 
but  whatsoever  he  shall  hear,  that  shall  he  speak,  and  he  will 
show  you  things  to  come."  Luke  xii.  12 ;  John  xiv.  20  ;  xvi.  13  ; 
XV.  26,  27,  <fec.  In  these  and  kindred  passages,  Christ  promises 
to  the  disciples,  (1.)  That  the  Holy  Ghost  should  be  given  to 
them.  (2.)  That  he  would  suggest  to  them  the  very  words  they 
must  utter,  so  that  even  premeditation  was  not  necessary.  (3.) 
That  as  conversations  were  to  be  stated  which  no  ordinary  mem- 
ory could  retain,  and  facts  announced  which  no  ordinary  sagacity 
could  predict,  their  minds  should  be  certified  as  to  the  past,  the 
present,  and  the  future.  (4.)  That  as  the  result  of  this,  their 
words  were  deserving  of  the  most  unquestioning  faith  as  infallibly 
true. 

Now  we  care  not  how  you  limit  this  promise,  still  it  explains 
the  nature  of  inspiration  in  a  way  that  overthrows  this  theory. 
Even  if  limited  to  the  specific  case  in  reference  to  which  it  was 
made,  it  affirms  the  extension  of  inspiration  to  the  very  words  of 
the  inspired  men,  giving  those  words  a  divine,  and  therefore,  an 
infallible  authority.  This  is  in  direct  contradiction  of  the  theory 
under  discussion. 

But  to  suppose  its  limitation  to  one  specific  case,  is  to  stultify 
our  Lord  in  the  arrangements  he  made  for  the  promulgation  of 
his  laws,  and  the  extension  of  his  kingdom;  as  well  as  to  charge 
him  with  the  most  heartless  indiiference  to  those  for  whom  he 
showed  the  highest  possible  regard  and  interest,  in  the  highest 
possible  way.  It  would  be  to  suppose  the  giving  of  divine  aid 
when  his  followers  needed  it  least,  and  withholding  it  when  they 
needed  it  most.  It  would  be  to  suppose  that  they  had  this  inspi- 
ration when  they  were  speaking  to  a  few  Jews  with  the  tongue, 
and  that  they  had  it  not  when  they  were  speaking  to  the  whole 
world  in  the  most  distant  generations,  by  the  pen.  It  would  be 
to  suppose  that  this  divine  influence  was  extended  to  their  words 
when  nothing  depended  upon  those  words  but  their  acquittal  be- 
fore some  petty  tribunal,  but  was  withdrawn  when  the  belief  or 
unbelief  of  these  words  was  to  determine  the  salvation  of  unborn 
millions.  These  suppositions  being  preposterous  and  incredible, 
the  promises  of  our  Lord  most  distinctly  guarantee  the  verbal  in- 
spiration of  the  Holy  Ghost  in  the  promulgation  of  his  religion, 

19 


290  INSPIRATION   OF  THE   SCRIPTURES, 

and  therefore  in  the  Scriptures,  its  promulgation  to  the  whole 
world. 

Another  fact  that  stands  in  contradiction  of  this  theory  is,  the 
remarkable  freedom  of  these  men  from  the  errors  incident  to 
their  age. 

Had  they  all  been  men  of  the  same  generation  and  the  same 
country,  so  that  mutual  understanding  might  be  supposed  ;  had 
they  been  disciples  of  the  same  school,  trained  under  the  sarae 
influences,  or  even  all  been  men  of  a  high  degree  of  mental  cul- 
ture, this  remarkable  fact  might  more  readily  be  explained.  But 
the  reverse  of  these  are  the  facts.  They  were  men  of  every 
grade,  both  of  intellect  and  culture,  from  the  sage  who  was  versed 
in  all  the  lore  of  Egypt,  and  the  orator  who  studied  at  the  feet 
of  Gamaliel,  to  the  lowly  herdsman  of  Tekoa,.  and  the  unlet- 
tered fisherman  of  Galilee.  They  were  found  in  every  part  of 
the  civihzed  world,  from  the  templed  margin  of  the  solemn  Nile, 
to  the  shady  banks  of  the  lordly  Euphrates ;  from  the  lonely 
sands  of  Arabia,  and  the  rocky  deserts  of  Judea,  to  the  metro- 
politan splendors  of  Jerusalem,  Epbesus,  Corinth  and  Rome. 
They  were  trained  under  every  school  of  belief,  from  the  dreamy 
pantheism  of  Central  Asia,  and  the  gigantic  astrologies  of  Egypt, 
to  the  gorgeous  polytheism  of  Greece,  and  the  godless  epicu- 
reanism of  Rome.  They  run  through  fifty  generations  of  the 
human  race,  from  the  sage  who  wrote,  and  the  bard  who  sung, 
six  hundred  years  before  Ijycurgus  gave  his  laws,  or  Homer  tuned 
his  lyre,  to  the  lonely  exile  of  Patmos,  who  saw  the  splendid  sun- 
set of  the  Augustan  day  of  Roman  literature  and  art.  They 
give  us  every  species  of  composition,  from  those  daring  lyrics  that 
seem  written  to  the  awful  notes  of  the  whirlwind  or  the  terrible 
crash  of  the  thunder,  to  the  most  jejune  genealogies  and  the 
most  iron-jointed  chain-work  of  argument.  They  allude  inciden- 
tally to  every  department  of  Nature,  from  Arcturus  and  Orion,  to 
the  lilies  of  the  field. 

Now  why  do  we  find  these  writers  agreeing  with  each  other  so 
wonderfully  that  no  fair  mind  has,  as  some  of  the  first  intellects 
of  the  world  believe,  ever  yet  detected  a  contradiction  ?  Why 
have  they  given  us  a  philosophy  sublimer  than  Plato's,  and  an 
ethics  purer  than  Aristotle's?  And  why  do  they  so  strangely 
escape  the  errors  of  their  day  ?  Why  have  they  not  given  us 
such  theogonies  and  cosmogonies  as  Hesiod,  Ovid  and  Lucretius ; 
such  pantheism  as  the  Greeks;  such  astrology  as  the  Egyptians; 


INSPIRATION   OF   THE   SCRIPTURES.  291 

or  such  wild,  monstrous  and  incredible  tales  as  we  have  gravely 
recorded  in  the  Natural  Histories  of  Aristotle  and  the  elder  Pliny? 
Why  have  these  fifty  men,  writing-  during  the  fifteen  hundred 
years  that  cover  the  four  great  monarchies,  and  the  splendid  eras 
of  Egyptian,  Assyrian,  Babylonian,  Grecian  and  Roman  civiliza- 
tion, and  appearing,  most  of  them  at  least,  in  an  obscure  and 
trampled  province,  yet  been  kept  from  mere  scientific  error,  as  no 
fifty  writers  of  the  same  period  have  been,  even  though  you  select 
them  from  the  most  learned  and  lofty  intellects  of  the  age  ? 

If  it  be  said  that  it  was  the  nature  of  the  subjects  on  which 
they  wrote,  that  preserved  them  from  error  and  puerility,  then  we 
place  the  fifty  fathers  of  the  Christian  church  beside  the  fifty 
writers  of  the  Scripture,  and  ask  why  the  nature  of  the  subjects 
did  not  preserve  them  from  such  mistakes?  Read  Tertullian's 
ascription  of  feeling  and  understanding  to  plants ;  Augustine's 
vehement  and  scornful  denunciation  of  the  allegation  that  there 
were  antipodes  ;  Ambrose's  opinion  that  the  sun  drew  up  water 
to  cool  and  refresh  himself  in  his  extreme  heat ;  and  countless 
errors  in  history,  geography,  philology  and  criticism ;  and  tell  us 
why  these  fifty  men,  writing  during  fifteen  hundred  years,  were 
exempted  from  the  errors  into  which  the  fifty  Christian  fathers 
fell,  writing,  with  the  Scriptures  in  their  hands,  during  less  than 
five  hundred  years  ? 

If  it  be  said  that  it  was  because  of  the  darkness  that  settled  on 
the  world  after  the  waning  of  the  Roman  glory,  we  meet  this 
evasion  by  an  exemplum  crucis.  We  have  apocryphal  writings 
that  date  back  so  near  to  the  apostolic  age  that  some  have  con- 
tended for  their  canonical  authority.  There  are  gospels,  acts, 
and  epistles  which  are  evident  imitations  of  those  found  in  the 
New  Testament  canon,  and  which  were  obviously  written  by 
those  who  believed  in  Christianity  as  a  religion  from  God.  If 
then  there  was  no  special  influence  exerted  on  the  New  Testa- 
ment writers  to  preserve  them  from  error,  they  were  in  precisely 
the  position  of  the  writers  of  these  apocryphal  productions,  and 
liable  to  the  same  errors.  Indeed,  when  we  remember  that  the 
apocryphal  writers  had  the  advantage  of  having  the  books  of 
the  New  Testament  before  them,  and  that  from  the  nature  of 
the  case  they  who  would  attempt  such  a  task  must  have  had  as 
much  intellectual  culture  as  the  simple  and  unlettered  fishermen 
of  Galilee,  we  would  naturally  expect  a  greater  exemption  from 
error  in  the  apocryphal  than  in  the  canonical  Scriptures.     But 


292  INSPIRATION    OF   THE   SCRIPTURES. 

what  do  we  find  to  be  the  fact?  Take  for  example  the  Gospel 
of  the  Nazarenes,  which  some  learned  men  suppose  to  be  alluded 
to  by  Paul  in  the  epistle  to  the  Galatians,  and  what  do  we  find 
in  it?  Instead  of  the  sweet  child-like  simplicity  of  the  genuine 
gospels,  we  have  all  the  preposterous  absurdity  and  anile  silliness 
that  marked  the  Jewish  mind  at  that  period.  We  have  it  said 
that  our  Lord  declared  that  his  mother  took  him  by  a  hair  of  his 
head  and  carried  him  to  Mount  Tabor ;  that  the  rich  man  who 
asked  what  he  should  do  to  inherit  eternal  life  on  receiving 
(vhrist's  answer,  scratched  his  head  and  was  displeased  ;  that  the 
mother  of  Christ  was  the  Holy  Ghost ;  that  the  Holy  Ghost  was 
waiting  for  Christ  during  the  time  of  the  prophets,  and  similar 
absurdities.  In  the  gospel  of  our  Saviour's  Infancy  we  have  yet 
more  absurd  and  insufferable  puerilities.  We  are  told  of  the 
swaddling  clothes  of  the  infant  Jesus  driving  out  devils  from  a 
possessed  woman,  in  the  shapes  of  crows  and  serpents ;  of  the 
water  in  which  he  was  washed  curing  a  leper ;  of  a  young  man 
changed  into  a  mule  by  witchcraft  who  was  restored  by  the  simple 
word  of  Mary  to  Christ ;  of  Satan  appearing  in  the  form  of  a 
dragon  and  emitting  fiery  coals  at  the  sight  of  Christ's  swaddling 
cloth ;  of  the  boy  Jesus  making  clay  birds  which  could  fly,  eat 
and  drink;  miraculously  mending  the  bad  carpentry  of  his 
father ;  and  changing  his  playmates  into  kids,  with  a  great 
variety  of  silly  stories  equally  absurd  and  incredible.  Compare 
these  wretched  fables  with  the  genuine  gospels,  and  tell  us  what 
caused  the  amazing  differences,  if  the  theory  of  Mr.  Morell  be 
true  ? 

But  we  have  also  an  epistle  ascribed  to  Barnabas,  which 
although  thought  by  many  not  to  be  his  work,  is  yet  very  ancient, 
reaching  nearly  if  not  quite  to  the  apostolic  age,  and  hence  shar- 
ing the  general  influences  which  affected  the  apostolic  writings, 
if  we  deny  their  plenary  inspiration.  Let  us  look  at  a  few  para- 
graphs from  this  alleged  epistle  of  Barnabas. 

"Abraham  received  the  mystery  of  three  letters.  For  the 
Scripture  says,  that  Abraham  circumcised  three  hundred  and 
eighteen  men  of  his  house.  But  what  therefore  was  the  mystery 
that  was  made  known  to  him?  Mark  first  the  eighteen,  and 
next  the  three  hundred.  For  the  numeral  letters  of  ten  and 
eight,  are  I  H.  And  these  denote  Jesus.  And  because  the  cross 
was  that  by  which  we  were  to  find  grace,  therefore  he  adds,  three 
hundred ;    the  note   of  which   is  T  (the   figure   of  his    cross). 


INSPIRATION  OF  THE   SCRIPTUBJES.  293 

Wherefore  by  two  letters,  he  signified  Jesus,  and  by  the  third  his 
cross."     §  9. 

"But  why  did  Moses  say  'ye shall  not  eat  of  the  swine,  neither 
the  eagle,  nor  the  hawk,  nor  the  crow,  nor  any  fish  that  has  not  a 
scale  upon  him?'  I  answer  that  in  the  spiritual  sense,  he  com- 
prehended three  doctrines.  Now  the  sow  he  forbade  them  to  eat ; 
meaning  thus  much :  thou  shalt  not  join  thyself  to  such  persons 
as  are  like  unto  swine,  who,  whilst  they  live  in  pleasure,  forget 
their  God,  but  when  any  want  pinches  them,  then  they  know  the 
Lord  ;  as  the  sow  when  she  is  full,  knows  not  her  master,  but 
when  she  is  hungry,  she  makes  a  noise,  and  being  again  fed  is 
silent.  Neither,  saith  he,  shalt  thou  eat  the  lamprey,  nor  the 
polypus,  nor  the  cuttle-fish,  that  is,  thou  shalt  not  be  like  such  men, 
who  are  altogether  wicked  and  adjudged  to  death.  For  so  these 
fishes  are  alone  accursed,  and  wallow  in  the  mire,  nor  swim  as 
other  fishes,  but  tumble  in  the  dirt  at  the  bottom  of  the  deep. 
Neither  shalt  thou  eat  of  the  hyena,  that  is,  be  an  adulterer  ;  because 
that  creature  every  year  changes  its  kind,  and  is  sometimes  male 
and  sometimes  female.  For  which  cause,  also,  he  justly  hated 
the  weasel,  to  the  end  that  they  should  not  be  like  such  persons 
who  commit  wickedness  with  their  mouths;  because  that  animal 
conceives  with  its  mouth." 

"  Therefore  David  took  aright  the  knowledge  of  his  threefold 
command,  saying  in  like  manner:  'blessed  is  the  man  that  hath 
not  walked  in  the  counsel  of  the  ungodly,'  (Ps.  i.  1,)  as  the  fishes 
before  mentioned  in  the  bottom  of  the  deep  in  darkness  ;  nor  stood 
in  the  way  of  sinners  ;  as  they  that  seem  to  fear  the  Lord,  but  yet 
sin,  as  the  sow.  And  hath  not  sat  in  the  seat  of  the  scorners,  as 
those  birds  who  sit  and  watch  that  they  may  devour.  Here  you 
have  the  law  concerning  meat  fully  set  forth,  and  according  to 
the  true  knowledge  of  it."     §  10. 

"But  why  might  they  eat  those  that  clave  the  hoof?  because 
the  righteous  Uveth  in  this  present  world,  but  his  expectation  is 
fixed  upon  the  other."     §  10. 

Compare  these  puerile  conceits,  and  exploded  fables  with  the 
high  and  manly  views  of  Paul  on  the  same  subject,  and  tell  us 
what  makes  the  diflference  ?  Why  has  the  one  fallen  into  scientific 
as  well  as  exegetical  errors,  and  the  other  not  ?  According  to  the 
verbal  theory,  the  reason  is  plain,  but  according  to  the  one  under 
discussion,  this  is  utterly  inexplicable.  The  quotations  from  Bar- 
nabas, strike  it  with  a  double  edge,  for  they  prove  first,  the  pro- 


2&4  INSPIRATION    OF  THE   SCEIFTT7RES. 

found  and  even  superstitious  reverence  which  the  primitive  church 
had  for  the  very  words  of  Scripture,  as  inspired  receptacles  of 
revealed  truth,  a  thing  denied  by  Mr.  Morell :  and  they  show  in 
the  second  place,  that  men  who  were  not  of  the  number  of  these 
canonical  writers,  though  their  very  companions  and  co-laborers, 
were  yet  liable  to  all  the  errors  of  their  age ;  a  fact  which  proves 
that  this  remarkable  exemption  from  error  can  only  be  accounted 
for  by  supposing  precisely  such  an  influence  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  as 
this  theory  denies. 

Another  fact  which  contradicts  this  theory,  is,  the  admitted 
limitation  of  these  higher  phenomena  of  inspiration,  to  these  fifty 
writers. 

If  these  phenomena  be  generically  the  same  with  the  actings 
of  the  intuitional  consciousness,  or  with  a  high  degree  of  sanc- 
tification,  why  have  they  appeared  in  so  few  1  Surely  if  inspira- 
tion be  only  an  intensification  and  clarification  of  the  pure  reason, 
we  may  naturally  look  for  it  wherever  that  reason  has  been  largely 
developed,  and  directed  to  the  subject  of  religion.  Now  it  cannot 
for  a  moment  be  doubted  that  Socrates,  Plato,  Aristotle  and  Cicero, 
had  a  larger  development,  and  a  more  scientific  culture  of  the  in- 
tuitive faculty  than  Asaph  and  Amos,  Mark  and  James.  Why 
then,  are  not  their  writings  on  the  subject  of  religion  equally  true 
and  authoritative  ?  And  why  have  these  phenomena  ceased  with 
these  men  ?  By  the  terms  of  this  new  philosophy,  the  intuitional 
consciousness  of  the  human  race  is  constantly  developing  and 
working  itself  to  a  higher  range  and  a  clearer  vision.  Why  then 
has  it  failed  to  produce  these  phenomena,  which,  according  to  this 
theory,  are  identical  with  its  development?  Bacon,  Newton,  and 
Kant  had,  if  this  theory  of  progressive  development  be  true,  ne- 
cessarily, a  larger  and  clearer  unfolding  of  this  consciousness  than 
some  of  these  writers;  why  were  not  they  as  fully  inspired?  If 
they  were,  where  is  the  proof  of  the  fact,  either  in  their  claims, 
their  writings,  or  their  influence?  If  they  were  not,  the  theory 
breaks  helplessly  down. 

Another  fact  that  conflicts  with  this  theory,  is,  the  wonderful 
jeauty  and  power  of  these  writings. 

Here  are  the  compositions  of  plain  unlettered  men  and  women, 
which  as  mere  literary  productions,  have  stood  peerless  and  unat- 
tainable, in  their  strange  power  to  touch  and  move  the  human 
heart.  It  is  an  inexplicable  fact  to  this  theory,  that  a  Deborah,  an 
Amos  and  a  Mary,  have,  whilst  under  the  power  of  this  high  affla- 


INSPIRATION   OF  THE   SCRIPTUKES.  295 

tus,  produced  some  of  the  finest  poetic  effusions  in  ancient  litera- 
ture. But  tiiis  fact,  difficult  as  it  is,  gives  way  before  another 
which  is  more  hopelessly  inexplicable.  It  is  that  myslevions power 
which  these  words  possess.  Even  Coleridge,  in  his  att^ipt  to  un- 
settle the  common  theory,  confesses  that  the  Bible  meets  him 
further  down  in  his  nature,  and  speaks  deeper  to  his  heart  than 
any  other  book.  This  is  a  fact  that  has  again  and  again  been 
felt.  There  are  times  in  a  man's  history,  when  these  words  seem 
to  blaze  with  such  a  depth  of  significance,  that  we  tremble  with 
awe,  or  thrill  with  gladness,  at  the  unutterable  things  that  glow 
and  stretch  away  behind  them.  They  seem  like  apertures  through 
which  we  see  the  awful  light  of  eternity.  This  is  not  the  fancy 
of  a  few  heated  enthusiasts,  but  the  recorded  testimony  of  some 
of  the  calmest,  loftiest,  and  purest  minds  of  our  race.  Nor  is  it  a 
mere  literary  phenomenon,  for  it  is  felt  by  the  Caffre  woman  in 
the  bush,  and  the  toiling  artisan  in  the  workshop,  as  deeply  as  by 
the  mystic  dreamer  of  Kul)la  Khan,  or  the  lofty  Jansenist  of  Port 
Royal.  They  all  testify  with  one  voice,  that  as  they  gaze  upon 
these  words,  there  are  periods  when  they  seem  to  open  up  a  shaft 
of  light,  which  at  one  time  is  all  flashing  with  the  brightness  of 
Heaven,  and  at  another,  all  red  with  the  glare  of  Hell.  How  can 
this  fact,  as  a  mere  psychological  plienomenon,  be  explained?  If 
it  be  true  that  Jehovah  has  in  very  deed  enshrined  himself  in 
these  wonderful  words,  unfolding  a  gleam  of  the  awful  Shekinah 
to  the  unveiled  and  disenchanted  spirit,  we  can  understand  this 
strange  and  mysterious  power.  If  these  books  be  as  some  won- 
drous wind-harp,  or  some  Memnonian  sculpture,  from  whose  depths 
the  breath  of  God's  mouth,  and  the  light  of  God's  presence  evoke 
this  strange  melody,  we  can  comprehend  to  some  extent,  the  secret 
of  its  entrancing  strains.  But  if,  as  this  theory  teaches,  there  is 
no  such  indwelling  of  the  Godhead  in  these  writings  ;  and  no  such 
breathing  of  God's  Spirit  through  these  words,  this  fact  stands 
before  us,  in  the  phenomena  of  mind,  an  inscrutable  and  inex- 
plicable mystery. 

A  kindred  fact  to  these,  is  the  amazing  effect  that  these  writings 
have  had  on  human  society. 

Without  referring  to  the  history  of  the  past,  it  is  sufficient  to 
point  to  the  map  of  the  world,  and  advert  to  the  fact,  that 
wherever  you  find  greatness,  growth  and  power,  civil  rights,  and 
civil  liberty,  national  prosperity  and  national  happiness,  there  you 
will  find  a  free  and  open  Bible ;  and  wherever  you  find  the  Bible 


296  INSPIRATION   OF   THE   SCRIPTURES. 

restrained  or  entirely  absent,  even  though  the  institutions  of  Chris- 
tianity are  existing  and  acting,  there  you  will  find  in  the  same 
proportion  the  absence  of  these  social  and  national  characteristics. 
Mere  natufal  causes  cannot  explain  this  fact.  The  same  old  and 
solemn  river  still  flows  past  Memphis  and  Thebes  ;  the  same  sap- 
phire sky  yet  hangs  over  Babylon  and  Bagdad  ;  and  the  same  tall 
mountains  look  down  like  giant  watchers  on  the  plains  where  the 
Persian,  the  Greek,  the  Roman  and  the  Turk  erected  the  gorgeous 
memorials  of  their  majesty  and  might.  But  the  glory  has  departed. 
And  whither  7  It  is  found  precisely  in  those  lands  where  the  Bible 
goes  freely  and  broadly  forth.  And  though  these  lands  should  be 
but  a  misty  isle  in  the  ocean,  or  a  continent  sleeping  but  a  few 
years  since  in  the  silence  of  a  primeval  forest,  yet  with  an  open 
Bible  in  their  habitations,  these  hardy  Anglo-Saxons  shall  wield  the 
destinies  of  the  world.  Now  if  it  be  true,  that  these  writings,  like 
the  Ark  of  God,  contain  the  shrined  Shekinah,  the  very  light 
of  Almightiness,  we  can  understand  their  power,  and  marvel  not 
that  they  have  evoked  such  mighty  results  in  human  history,  for 
we  see  that  these  results  are  to  be  referred  to  the  Anglo-Saxon 
Bible,  rather  than  to  the  Anglo-Saxon  blood.  But  if  not,  we  can- 
not see  why  other  books,  written  by  men  in  no  apparent  respect 
the  inferiors  of  many  of  these,  and  discussing  the  same  great 
truths,  should  yet  produce  an  effect  so  circumscribed  and  shallow 
compared  with  them ;  and  we  stand  before  this  fact,  bewildered 
and  confounded  in  astonishment. 

Another  objection  to  this  theory  is,  that  it  destroys  the  authority 
of  the  Bible,  and  thus  destroys  its  influence,  and  tends  to  defeat 
its  great  purpose  in  the  world. 

We  are  aware  that  the  argument  from  consequences  is  not  al- 
ways a  valid  one,  but  neither  is  it  always  invalid.  "  You  say," 
replied  Rousseau  to  one  of  his  antagonists,  "  that  the  truth  can  do 
no  harm.  I  know  it,  and  for  that  reason,  do  I  know  that  your 
opinion  is  an  error,"  Nor  was  the  brilliant  Frenchman  wrong  in 
this  acute  response.  Truth  can  do  no  harm,  but  falsehood  may  ; 
and  if  we  see  that  a  position  or  theory  inevitably  tends  to  do 
harm,  we  may  fairly  urge  this  as,  at  least,  a  presumption  of  its 
error. 

If  the  Bible  is  not  an  inspired  rule  of  faith  and  practice,  we  are, 
of  course,  not  bound  to  believe  and  do  what  it  enjoins,  any  further 
than  we  are  to  obey  the  writings  of  any  other  wise  and  good  men. 
What  restraint  then  have  we  for  the  masses?     What  spell  that 


INSPIRATION   OF  THE  SCRIPTURES.  297 

can  curb  their  wild  and  lawless  passions  ?  If  their  blind  reason- 
ings lead  them  to  agrarianism,  socialism,  revolution  or  anarchy, 
what  word  of  man  shall  be  mighty  enough  to  arrest  them  in  their 
rush  of  ruin  ?  Must  not  the  voice  of  reason  be  drowned  in  the 
roar  of  revolution  ? 

Germany  furnishes  us  a  case  exactly  in  point.  Strauss,  in  his 
life  of  Jesus,  labored  most  earnestly  to  inculcate  essentially  this 
theor}-,  and  succeeded  in  giving  it  a  wide  prevalence  in  all  classes 
of  society.  He  denied  that  the  Bible  was  the  inspired  word  of 
God,  and  its  teachings  authoritative.  The  dragon's  teeth  were 
thus  sown  broadcast  over  the  land,  the  fell  harvest  soon  showed 
its  bristling  array,  in  the  terrible  scenes  of  1848,  When  these 
popular  uprisings  began  to  startle  the  world,  the  learned  professor 
began  to  recoil  from  the  consequences  of  his  theory.  He  found 
that  he  had  unchained  the  tiger,  and  sought  to  coax  and  wheedle 
him  back  to  his  cage.  He  therefore  traversed  the  villages  of  his 
native  Swabia,  striving  to  undo  the  dreadful  work  he  had  wrought 
in  the  minds  of  the  peasantry.  These  efforts  have  been  pub- 
lished in  what  he  terms  his  Theologico-Political  Discourses,  and 
in  them  he  thus  addresses  the  peasantry.  "It  is  not  for  you 
that  I  wrote  the  life  of  Jesus.  Let  this  work  alone,  it  will  impart 
doubts  which  you  have  not  now.  You  have  better  things  to  read. 
Study,  especially,  precepts  like  these :  Blessed  are  the  pure  in 
heart !  Blessed  are  the  merciful !"  But  who  reasons  most  logi- 
cally, if  this  theory  be  true,  the  peasant  or  the  philosopher?  The 
peasant,  undoubtedly  ;  for  it  would  be  hard  to  prove  to  him,  that 
what  is  a  truth  to  him,  is  a  lie  to  his  neighbor ;  that  he  is  bound 
by  a  book  which  does  not  bind  the  philosopher ;  and  that  he  is 
in  duty  bound  to  revere  and  obey  a  religion  which  the  philoso- 
pher recommends  only  as  a  substitute  for  the  police  officer  and  the 
constable.  Hence  he  claims  the  same  freedom  with  the  philoso- 
pher, and  refuses  to  pinion  himself  with  a  politic  falsehood. 

Nor  is  the  sweep  of  this  theory  limited  to  the  simple  peasant. 
If  the  Bible  be  not  an  infallible  standard  of  belief  and  practice, 
then  the  philosopher  has  no  basis  of  certitude  as  to  anything  that 
is  not  a  matter  of  direct  sensation  or  consciousness.  God,  Heaven, 
Hell,  Eternity,  Judgment,  Resurrection,  and  all  the  unseen  and 
the  spiritual,  are  shrouded  in  voiceless  and  terrible  uncertainty. 
The  state  of  facts  declared  by  these  writers  of  the  Bible,  may  be 
the  true  one,  but  we  have  no  more  absolute  certainty  of  it  than 
we  have  of  the  opinions  of  Confucius,  Zoroaster,  Plato  or  Epicu- 


298  INSPIRATION   OF  THE   SCRIPTURES. 

rus.  These  men  may  have  been  mspiied,  but  we  have  no  proof 
of  the  fact  on  which  we  can  rely.  And  even  if  they  were  in- 
spired, that  inspiration  in  their  minds  avails  nothing  to  us,  unless 
we  are  sure  that  we  have  a  certain  and  rehable  record  of  the 
truths  perceived  by  them  in  this  inspired  state.  They  may  have 
truly  received  the  word  from  God,  but  this  is  of  little  avail  to  us, 
unless  we  know  that  they  have  as  truly  transmitted  it  to  us. 
Hence,  if  this  be  all  the  inspiration  they  possessed,  however  valu- 
able it  may  have  been  to  them,  it  is  of  little  value  to  us,  and  can 
only  serve  to  tantalize  us  with  the  knowledge  that  these  few  men 
have  been  favored  with  a  light  from  heaven,  whilst  the  rest  of 
mankind  have  been  left  only  to  that  amount  of  this  hght  which 
they,  in  their  imperfect  and  undirected  judgment,  have  been  able 
to  transmit.  We  are  yet  without  any  distinct  utterance  on  which 
we  can  rely  to  tell  us  what  we  must  certainly  believe,  and  what 
we  must  necessarily  do. 

It  is  replied  to  this  by  Mr.  Morell  and  the  modern  philosophy, 
that  the  only  and  the  sufficient  basis  of  certitude,  is  the  dictates 
of  the  universal  consciousness  of  the  human  race.  We  ask  what 
are  these  dictates?  Where  are  they  recorded?  Who  are  their 
reporters?  And  who  shall  tell  us  which  reporter  is  the  most  trust- 
worthy? The  old  Egyptian  and  Chaldaic  teachings  were  over- 
turned by  Pythagoras ;  he  is  set  aside  by  the  Porch  and  the 
Academy  in  their  multitudinous  ramifications  ;  they  by  the  Gnos- 
tics and  Neo-Platonists  ;  they  by  the  Schoolmen  ;  they  by  the 
Cartesians ;  they  by  Leibnitz  and  Wolf :  they  by  Locke  and 
Hume ;  they  by  Kant ;  he  by  Fichte,  Schelling,  Hegel,  Schleier- 
macher,  Strauss,  Cousin,  &c.  <fec.,  and  they  by  the  next  avatar 
of  the  philosophic  spirit,  the  arrival  of  which  has  not  yet  been 
telegraphed.  In  this  chase  of  phantoms,  what  shall  we  believe? 
May  not  the  next  morning  newspaper  that  gives  us  the  price  of 
stocks  and  cotton,  also  inform  us  of  the  appearance  of  some  new 
philosopher  whose  teachings  shall  supplant  all  his  predecessors, 
and  leave  us  bankrupt  in  our  faith?  What  shall  we  trust?  Jesus 
we  know,  and  Paul  we  know,  and  can  discover  the  truth  if  they 
have  taught  it.  We  also  know  that  Augustine  and  Luther,  and 
the  great  mass  of  theologians,  have  taught  essentially  the  sanie 
things.  If  then  the  Bible  be  the  standard  of  truth,  we  know  what 
to  believe ;  if  not,  we  are  launched  on  a  shoreless  and  fathomless 
ocean,  without  landmark,  or  pilot,  or  chart  or  compass,  while  the 
waters  are  covered  with  darkness. 


INSPIRATION   OF  THE   SCRIPTURES.  299 

But  if  the  general  suffrage  of  the  enlightened  consciousness  of 
the  human  race  be,  as  this  philosophy  avers,  the  ultimate  basis  of 
certitude,  and  therefore  the  last  tribunal  of  appeal,  we  can  of 
course  carry  this  question  there  for  decision.  If  this  basis  be  valid 
for  other  matters  of  opinion,  much  more  must  it  be  for  this  which 
is  under  discussion.  It  is  alleged  by  this  theory,  that  inspiration 
is  nothing  but  the  elevation  and  illumination  of  this  intuitive  con- 
sciousness to  the  perception  of  spiritual  truth.  Of  course  then,  if 
there  is  any  case  which  we  may  safely  refer  to  this  chosen  tribu- 
nal, it  is  the  present,  an  alleged  phenomenon  of  its  own  nature. 
And  if  there  is  any  expression  of  this  consciousness  on  which  we 
can  rely,  it  is  found  in  tlie  prevailing  opinions  of  the  Christian 
Church,  in  the  bosom  of  which  these  phenomena  of  inspiration 
are  confessedly  found.  What  then  is  the  testimony  of  the  Chris- 
tian consciousness  on  this  point.  Does  it  recognize  these  high 
functions  which  are  alleged  to  belong  to  it?  We  but  record  a 
notorious  fact  in  ecclesiastical  history,  when  we  say  that  its  re- 
sponse to  this  appeal  is  in  direct  and  emphatic  contradiction  of  the 
averments  of  this  tiieory.  It  positively  denies  that  among  its 
phenomena  are  included  those  of  inspiration.  This  question  is 
not  one  that  is  sprung  upon  the  consciousness  of  the  Church,  now 
for  the  first  time,  but  one  which  has  been  before  her  in  various 
forms  for  centuries.  And  although  this  precise  form  of  a  theory 
to  be  substituted  for  that  of  verbal  inspiration  may  not  have  been 
previously  presented,  yet  all  that  is  essential  to  it  has  been  before 
the  Church  for  many  generations,  and  received  the  most  emphatic 
condemnation  and  rejection.  Every  student  of  the  history  of 
Christian  doctrine  knows,  that  from  Theodore  of  Mopsuesta  down 
to  the  last  nine  days'  wonder  in  the  Fatherland,  those  who  have 
held  any  views  denying  the  plenary,  verbal  inspiration  of  the 
Scriptures,  have  been  regarded  as  heretics  and  enemies  of  the 
truth.  The  researches  of  such  men  as  Lardner,  Whitby,  and 
Rudelbach,  especially  the  latter,  have  established  it  beyond  con- 
tradiction, that  true  or  false,  the  verbal  theory  has  always  been 
that  of  the  Christian  Church.  Surely  then,  if  there  was  ever  a 
point  on  which  the  purified  consciousness  of  humanity  has  pro- 
nounced, and  on  which  its  decisions  can  be  ascertained,  it  is  the 
one  now  before  us.  Hence,  when  philosophy  appeals  from  the 
written  word,  to  this  collective  consciousness,  on  a  point  so  clearly 
within  its  jurisdiction,  and  so  long  before  its  consideration,  the 
appellant  must  abide  by  the  decisions  of  the  chosen  arbiter.    Now 


800  INSPIEATION  or   THE   SCRIPTURES. 

as  the  distinct  affirmation  of  the  Christian  consciousness,  for 
many  generations  is,  that  inspiration  is  not  among  its  phenomena, 
we  allege  that,  as  an  argumentiim  ad  hominem,  this  decision  is 
absolutely  fatal  to  the  theory  under  discussion. 

If  then  this  theory  of  inspiration  is  a  mere  arbitrary  figment, 
invented  to  remove  some  difficulties  that  are  more  imaginary  than 
real;  if  it  has  been  formed  not  only  without  reference  to  the  facts 
to  be  explained  by  it,  but  in  direct  contradiction  of  them  ;  if  it 
removes  us  from  one  difficulty  by  plunging  us  into  others  tenfold 
more  embarrassing ;  if  it  relieves  the  reason  of  man  at  the  expense 
of  the  righteousness  of  God;  if  it  takes  from  us  our  only  lamp  of 
guidance  in  the  vale  of  tears,  and  then  tells  us  to  find  the  path  to 
heaven  by  our  own  purblind  vision,  when  false  lights  are  gleam- 
ing and  gliding  all  around  us ;  if  it  teaches  that  God  has  taken 
less  care  to  ensure  the  accurate  publication  of  his  laws  and  am- 
nesties, than  the  most  negligent  and  tyrannical  government  on 
earth  has  done  of  theirs ;  if  it  teaches  that  he  has  required  us  to 
believe  the  truth  under  the  most  terrific  penalties,  and  yet  has 
made  no  certain  provision  that  what  is  offered  to  our  belief  is  the 
truth  ;  if  it  teaches  that  effects  the  most  extraordinary  have  been 
produced  by  causes  the  most  ordinary  and  inadequate ;  if  it  de- 
stroys the  reverence  that  men  have  for  the  Bible,  neutralizes  its 
authority  over  them,  and  leads  them  to  neglect  and  disobey  its 
injunctions,  thus  defeating  the  very  end  of  its  production,  and 
charging  its  author  with  folly ;  if  it  is  ignored  at  the  very  tribunal 
to  which  it  has  carried  its  final  appeal ;  then  we  are  at  liberty  to 
reject  it  as  false,  and  cling  to  the  honored  faith  of  our  fathers ;  the 
faith  that  cheered  them  in  sorrow,  that  nerved  them  in  danger, 
and  that  upheld  them  in  death,  that  this  blessed  Book  is  indeed 
the  word  of  the  living  God,  and  that  in  listening  to  its  wondrous 
tidings,  we  are  listening  to  the  voice  of  the  Eternal  and  the 
Almighty,  inasmuch  as  "  all  Scripture  is  given  by  the  inspiration 
of  God,"  and  given  because  "  holy  men  spake  as  they  were  moved 
by  the  Holy  Ghost." 

It  is  with  joy  then,  that  we  find  this  last,  and  in  some  respects, 
most  powerful  effiDrt  to  overturn  our  old  and  cherished  faith,  as 
empty  and  weak  as  those  that  have  gone  before  it.  Philosophy 
and  human  wisdom  may  neglect  this  light  from  Heaven,  and  walk 
by  the  sparks  of  their  own  kindling,  but  this  light  can  never  be 
put  out,  even  though  these  proud  wanderers  should  have  it  at 
God's  hand  to  lie  down  at  last  in  sorrow  and  gloom. 


INSPIRATION  OF  THE  SCRIPTURES.  301 

Life  lies  before  you,  young  man,  all  gleaming  and  flashing  in 
the  light  of  your  early  hopes,  like  a  summer  sea.  But  bright 
though  it  seem  in  the  silvery  sheen  of  its  far-off  beauty,  it  is  a 
place  where  many  a  sunken  rock  and  many  a  treacherous  quick- 
sand have  made  shipwreck  of  immortal  hopes.  And  calm  though 
its  polished  surface  may  sleep,  without  a  ripple  or  a  shade,  it  shall 
yet  be  overhung  to  you  by  the  darkness  of  the  night,  and  the 
wildness  of  the  tempest.  And  oh  !  if  in  these  lonely  and  perilous 
scenes  of  your  voyage,  you  were  left  without  a  landmark  or  a 
beacon,  how  sad  and  fearful  were  your  lot.  But  blessed  be  God  ! 
you  are  not.  Far  up  on  the  rock  of  ages,  there  streams  a  light 
from  the  Eternal  Word,  the  light  that  David  saw  and  rejoiced ; 
the  light  that  Paul  saw  and  took  courage;  the  light  that  has 
guided  the  ten  thousand  times  ten  thousand,  that  have  already 
reached  the  happy  isles  of  the  blest.  There  it  stands,  the  Pharos 
of  this  dark  and  stormy  scene,  with  a  flame  that  was  kindled  in 
heaven,  and  that  comes  down  to  us  reflected  from  many  a  glori- 
ous image  of  prophet,  apostle  and  martyr.  Many  a  rash  and 
wicked  spirit  has  sought  to  put  out  this  light,  and  on  the  pinion 
of  a  reckless  daring,  has  furiously  dashed  itself  against  it,  but  has 
only  fallen  stunned  and  blackened  in  the  surf  below.  Many  a 
storm  of  hate  and  fury,  has  dashed  wildly  against  it,  covering  it 
for  a  lime  with  spray,  but  when  the  fiercest  shock  has  spent  its 
rage,  and  the  proud  waves  rolled  all  shivered  and  sullenly  back, 
the  beacon  has  still  gleamed  on  high  and  clear  above  the  raging 
waters.  Another  storm  is  now  dashing  against  it ;  and  another 
cloud  of  mist  is  flung  around  it,  but  when  these  also  have  expend- 
ed their  might,  the  rock  and  the  beacon  shall  be  unharmed  still. 
"We  have  a  more  sure  word  of  prophecy,  whereunto  ye  do  well 
that  ye  take  heed,  as  unto  a  light  that  shineth  in  a  dark  place, 
until  the  day  dawn  and  the  day-star  arise  in  your  hearts."  When 
this  promised  time  shall  have  come,  when  the  dappling  dawn  shall 
have  broadened  and  brightened  into  the  perfect  day,  then,  and  not 
until  then,  shall  the  light  of  this  sure  beacon  pale  before  the  bright- 
ness of  that  day,  whose  morning  is  Heaven,  and  whose  noontide 
is  eternity.  But  until  then,  in  spite  of  the  false  lights  that  flash 
upon  our  track,  and  gleam  fitfully  from  billow  to  billow,  our  steady 
gaze  and  our  earnest  heed  shall  be  to  this  sure  word  of  prophecy, 
and  the  motto  we  shall  ever  unfurl  to  the  winds,  shall  be,  ^^  the 
Bible,  the  Bible,  the  light-house  of  the  worldJ' 


/*. 


wS» 


7 


\^L^  C^ 


€\)t  iMht  nf  CjiriBtiaiiiti), 


AS   SHOWN   TO    BK 


A  PER^T.CT  AND  FINAL  SYSTEM  OF  FAITH  AND  I>RACTICE, 

AND  NOT  A  FORM  IN  TRANSITU   TO  A  HIGHER 

AND  MORE  COMPLETE  DEVELOPMENT  OF 

THE  RELIGIOUS  IDEA. 


BY 

KEY.   JOHN    MILLEE, 

PHILADELPHIA. 


There  is  a  tendency  in  modern  science  to  the  doctrine  of  de- 
velopments. Anatomists  believe  that  a  skull  is  a  developed  ver- 
tebra, and  botanists  that  a  flower  is  a  developed  leaf-bud  ;  and  the 
tendencies  of  science  might  be  expected  to  intrude  upon  religion. 

The  tendency  of  science  to  find  a  development  in  religion  is  as- 
sisted by  the  fact  that  religion  is  developed.  Heaven,  and  (if  our 
ideas  are  realized)  the  Millennium,  are  developments  of  Christi- 
anity. They  develop  its  facts,  for  heaven  and  the  Millennium  are 
developed  facts  of  Christianity.  They  develop  its  knowledge,  for 
now  we  see  through  a  glass  darkly,  but  in  heaven  face  to  face. 
They  develop  its  methods,  for  they  shall  not  teach  every  man  his 
neighbor,  and  every  man  his  brother,  saying,  Know  the  Lord  : 
for  all  shall  know  him  from  the  least  to  the  greatest. 

We  are  not  blind  therefore  to  acknowledged  progress  in  religion. 
The  infidel  schemes  we  would  oppose  will  sufiiciently  define  them- 
selves in  the  progress  of  our  discussion. 

Development  may  be  of  two  kinds,  in  the  inventions  of  man  or 
in  the  revelations  of  God,  and  these  two  might  adequately  divide 
our  subject.  The  "  religious  idea"  might  be  man's  idea,  and  then 
Christianity  is  m  transitu  from  one  mythology  to  another.  Or 
the  "  religious  idea"  may  be  God's  inspiration,  and  then  Chris- 
tianity may  be  a  step  in  transitu  in  the  development  of  revealed 
religion.  This  is  the  division  which  we  had  first  agreed  upon,  but 
it  clears  the  way  to  another  which  is  fuller,  more  easily  remem- 
bered, and  more  strikingly  in  unison  with  facts  in  general. 

All  possible  developments  are  in  three  forms. 

First,  there  is  a  development  of  art :  as  for  example,  the  steam- 
engine  has  been  developed  from  the  toy  of  Hero. 

Secondly,  there  is  a  development  in  nature  :  as  for  example,  the 
oak  is  a  development  from  the  germ  of  the  acorn. 

And  thirdly,  there  is  a  development  of  science :  as  for  example, 

the  Copernican  system  has  been  developed  from  the  spheres  of 

the  Greek  astrologers. 

20 


306  CHRISTIANITY   A   PERFECT   AND    FINAL   SYSTEM. 

Each  of  these  forms  of  development  has  been  imagined  by  dif- 
ferent infidels  as  obtaining  in  Christianity. 

I.  First,  they  have  imagined  a  developed  inveiition^  and  adopted 
the  theory  that  Christianity  is  a  myth  developed  and  cultivated 
from  the  ancient  fables. 

Whether  it  is  a  fable  or  no  broadly,  or  as  a  general  question, 
will  not  come  up  under  this  head,  for  that  would  be  taking  the 
work  of  all  our  colleagues.  The  whole  circle  of  the  "  Evidences" 
would  be  contained  under  such  a  division ;  nor  if  it  be  a  fable, 
whether  it  is  developed  and  cultivated,  for  that  we  would  be  per- 
fectly willing  to  acknowledge.  What  we  are  concerned  in  is  the 
proof  of  the  theory  derived  from  the  theory  itself;  or  the  meeting 
of  the  idea  that  Christianity  is  a  cultivated  mythology,  as  it  is 
rendered  plausible  by  the  likelihoods  in  the  very  idea  of  the  devel- 
opments proposed. 

Now  a  skull  is  thought  to  be  a  developed  vertebra  from  its  like- 
ness to  that  out  of  which  it  is  thought  to  be  developed.  A  flower 
is  thought  to  be  a  developed  leaf-bud,  because  it  is  like  a  leaf- 
bud.  It  has  its  parts  and  properties.  And  the  grand  method  of 
maintaining  a  development  of  faiths  is,  that  Christianity  is  like  its 
predecessors,  and  that  we  can  see  in  Boodhism  and  the  fables  of 
the  Greeks,  the  shapes  and  patterns  out  of  which  its  principles 
have  been  derived. 

Let  us  pursue  this  method  in  the  instance  of  the  gospel. 

Suppose  the  question  to  be  deliberately  asked,  how  I  know  that 
Jehovah  is  better  than  Jupiter,  or  Christianity  any  different  the- 
ology from  the  myths  of  ancient  religion? 

The  first  feeling  is  one  of  indignation.  But  part  of  this  is  un- 
questionably prejudice ;  and  let  us  place  ourselves  in  an  avenue 
of  approach  where  as  much  of  this  as  possible  shall  be  done 
away,  and  where  the  classic  veil  that  hides  us  from  the  past  shall 
be  penetrated,  and  we  enter  among  the  men  and  women  of  the 
old  worship. 

Let  us  go  up  a  street  of  Pompeii. 

Here  is  a  bakery.  Across  over  the  way  is  a  drinking  shop,  and 
the  steps  worn  by  the  feet  of  the  inebriates.  Above  was  an 
apothecary,  and  in  his  shop  the  pots  and  vials  that  he  used  in 
})is  craft.  On  the  street  are  the  ruts  of  the  carriage-way,  and 
m  the  yard  of  a  house  a  well  grooved  by  the  rope  as  it  rubbed 
incessantly  on  the  marble  twenty  centuries  ago. 

These  sights  break  a  spell ;  and  instead  of  the   toga'd  Latin, 


CHRISTIANITY   A  PERFECT   AND   FINAL  SYSTEM.  807 

half  fabulous  like  the  books  of  his  own  religion,  we  see  actual 
men — pictures  and  carved  work  and  pans  and  lanterns,  thrift  anJ 
taste  and  poverty   thoughts  and  frailties  like  our  own. 

We  go  up  the  street,  then,  and  on  a  corner  lot  is  a  temple  to 
Jupiter. 

We  see  it  in  its  home  relation.  The  baker  and  the  apothecary 
built  it  for  a  want  like  ours.  And  as  we  look  at  it  in  its  actual 
intention  through  the  Ides  and  Kalends  of  the  year  as  a  resort 
for  the  townspeople,  and  as  a  place  to  which  tottering  old  men 
and  widowed  matrons  went  for  the  consolations  of  religion,  it  be- 
gins to  steal  over  us  as  an  arrangement  like  the  others :  here,  if 
anywhere,  we  can  indulge  the  skepticism  that  religion  is  a  pro- 
gress, and  the  question  actually  presses,  why  is  not  here  the  leaf- 
bud?  Why  are  not  here  the  likenesses  on  which  philosophers 
rely?  Why  was  not  this  a  preparation?  And  why  is  not  Chris- 
tianity, too,  an  achievement  of  the  mind  working  itself  clear 
toward  a  higher  and  more  mature  religion? 

Now  it  so  happens  that  the  objections  you  instantly  propose,  are 
the  most  startling  analogies  on  which  the  suggestion  could  depend. 

1.  Your  first  attitude  is  mere  resistance.  In  the  inert  moment 
of  hearing  the  plan,  you  are  perfectly  tranquil,  and  when  you 
analyze  your  feelings,  it  is  one  of  mere  assurance.  This  skepti- 
cism does  not  ruffle  you.  You  have  not  the  slightest  idea  of  its 
plausibleness.  And  if  you  had,  a  certain  jealous  terror  would 
hurriedly  close  all  the  avenues  to  any  infidel  opinion. 

But  unfortunately  this  is  a  family  tendency.  The  religions  of 
mankind  deal  in  the  profoundest  confidences.  The  Mohammedan 
nourished  in  Islam,  is  awe-struck  at  the  teachings  of  the  Chris- 
tian. The  Romanist  in  the  shadow  of  the  church,  rejects  with 
scorn  the  faith  of  the  Reformers.  And  this  temple  in  the  street 
shows  on  its  gorgeous  front  the  intensity  of  the  feeling  that  in- 
spired its  architectural  designs. 

See  the  columns.  Observe  the  capitals  how  exquisitely  they 
are  wrought. 

The  faculties  of  men  are  not  stimulated  without  an  object.  And 
the  patience  of  the  labor  shows  a  resoluteness  of  will  and  a 
warmth  of  principle  and  purpose  unequalled  in  Christian  Uinds. 

2.  You  may  say  theirs  was  an  ignorant  age.  But  how  easily 
might  the  infidel  contradict  it. 

When  we  wish  to  polish  our  styles,  or  to  frame  the  thinking  of 
our  universities  upon  a  generous  model,  we  go  back  to  the  idola- 


308  CHRISTIANITY   A   PERFECT   AND   FINAL   SYSTEM. 

ters.  We  defer  to  them  in  every  point.  We  leave  Shakspeare  and 
Milton,  and  take  Homer.  We  leave  Fox  and  Pitt  and  Chatham,  and 
take  Demosthenes.  We  study  a  dead  language.  We  incur  the  re- 
proach of  inutility  to  get  back  to  the  thinking  of  that  early  period. 

Our  artists  tell  us  that  the  "  Apollo"  dug  up  within  our  own 
century  is  perfectly  inimitable.  And  we  who  have  no  experience 
in  the  art,  are  constantly  surprised  at  the  coolness  with  which 
they  consent  to  the  opinion,  that  the  antique  is  hardly  to  be  at- 
tained to  by  any  modern  application. 

Here  is  an  age  then  living  upon  the  achievements  of  another. 
Our  students  ripen  their  minds  by  the  pabulum  of  ancient  wit. 
And  when  Kant  and  Hegel  are  mouldering  in  their  tombs,  we 
have  no  reason  to  be  sure  that  Plato  will  not  still  be  safe,  and 
will  not  still  be  reaching  to  the  centuries  the  volumes  of  his  sense 
and  eloquence. 

3.  But  the  philosophers,  you  instantl}''  reply,  were  the  ancient 
skeptics,  and  it  is  a  favorite  method  of  Christianity  to  condemn 
the  temples  by  the  admission  of  the  grave  and  learned.  But  how 
would  it  answer  in  the  instance  of  Christianity  herself? 

When  the  lighter  literature  of  the  time  had  floated  ofT,  Hume 
and  Gibbon  and  the  more  learned  of  the  German  school,  Descar- 
tes and  Leibnitz,  and  in  our  own  time  Carlyle  and  even  Macaulay 
might  be  gleaned  from  to  undermine  the  gospel.  And  it  might  be 
said,  See;  whenever  a  mind  rose  above  the  level  of  the  multitude, 
he  descried  the  sophistries,  and  whereas  a  cultivated  form  might 
be  less  exposed  to  such  a  defection,  Christianity  would  still  furnish 
enough  to  give  it  the  likeness  of  being  a  cultivated  fable. 

The  heathen  are  in  the  hand  of  enemies.  The  ancient  books 
have  been  studied  to  brace  up  the  gospel.  Let  our  literature 
be  committed  to  the  skeptics,  and  what  might  they  not  glean  from 
it  of  infidel  confession. 

4.  But  you  say,  the  vices  of  the  heathen  are  the  grave  evidence 
against  their  system.  Then  there  we  encounter  the  vices  of 
the  Christians.  Del  Monte  and  Ceesar  Borgia  and  the  laxer  of 
the  Popes  would  stand  side  by  side  with  Apollo  and  the  goddes- 
ses. And  in  the  church  herself  the  infamy  of  the  cloisters 
would  hold,  for  a  cultivated  religion,  a  proportionate  grade  with 
the  obscenities  of  the  temple. 

Seneca  tells  us,*  vices  were  not  a  part  of  their  religion.     And 

*  De  Vita  Beata,  ch.  26,  g  5-6.  See  also  Karsten  Phil.  Yett.  Reliquie,  vol.  1,  p. 
43  et  seq. 


CHRISTIANITY   A   PERFECT  AND   FINAL   SYSTEM.  309 

looking  upon  Christianity  as  she  was,  a  future  mylhologue  might 
find  in  her  persecutions  and  bloody  wars  enough  to  characterize 
her  as  having  a  hkeness  with  the  idolaters. 

5.  But  you  say  Paganism  is  a  perfect  labyrinth.  There  is  no 
order  in  its  myths,  and  it  is  an  intellectual  impossibility  to  embrace 
it  as  a  system.  It  has  gods  and  demigods.  We  have  hardly 
fancied  one,  before  it  is  confounded  with  another.  They  trace 
themselves  alike.  We  have  hardly  gotten  an  origin  for  Jove,  be- 
fore it  is  laid  claim  to  in  the  theology  of  Bacchus ;  and  in  the 
endless  confusion  of  traits  and  influences  and  clashings  in  the  ar- 
rangement of  their  empire,  we  find  a  practical  confession  that  it 
is  not  a  system  to  be  believed. 

But,  for  a  cultivated  religion,  there  are  some  contrarieties  with  us. 

My  neighbor  near  me  conceives  of  Christ  as  a  man.  I  conceive 
of  him  as  a  God.  Let  our  writings  go  to  a  stranger,  and  you  have 
no  idea  of  the  confusion  they  will  cause.  We  will  not  pursue  this 
subject.  You  can  easily  see  how  to  a  future  antiquarian  perse- 
verance and  its  opposite,  eternal  punishment  and  its  opposite,  re- 
generation in  its  different  methods,  Pelagianism  and  the  doctrine 
of  depravity,  would  present  a  chaos  of  belief  impervious  to  any 
system. 

6.  Your  next  attack  is  against  the  puerilities  of  the  heathen. 
You  say,  their  myths  are  so  gross  as  to  be  hopelessly  incredible, 
and  there  is  a  carnality  about  their  worship  in  its  images  and 
bloody  sacrifices,  that  renders  it  easy  to  dismiss  it  as  monstrous 
and  absurd. 

But  now  (with  reverence  be  it  spoken ;  for  we  would  bring 
out  the  fair  weight  of  the  infidel  scheme)  is  there  a  due  simplicity 
in  the  doctrine  of  the  gospel  ? 

What  are  we  to  think  of  the  Trinity?  What  are  we  to  think 
of  atonement  and  a  bloody  crucifixion  ?  What  are  we  to  think 
of  Jesus  and  an  incarnation  of  the  Holy  One  ?  How  are  we  to 
judge  of  miracles  like  that  of  Jonah  or  the  one  of  Gadara ;  or  of 
prophecies  like  this,  "  When  Israel  was  a  child  then  I  loved  him 
and  called  my  son  out  of  Egypt  ?"  What  are  we  to  think  of 
morals  where  Jesus  creates  wine,  or  Moses  licenses  divorce  and 
encourages  polygamy  ? 

The  method  of  induction,  and  the  whole  sweep  of  the  modern 
sciences,  help  in  this  species  of  skepticism.  Men  have  gotten  to 
expect  simplicity,  and  to  beat  at  the  gates  of  the  future  with  a 
satisfaction  in  nothing  else.     Nature  when  rifled  of  her  secrets, 


310  CHRISTIANITY   A   PERFECT  AND   FINAL  SYSTEM. 

gives  them  to  us  in  simple  laws,  and  men  have  grown  to  be  confi- 
dent of  her  that  she  has  not  told  us  the  reality  till  she  sends  it 
to  us  in  a  plain  response,  orderly  and  regular  like  her  own  designs. 

And  if  there  be  a  God,  plain,  a  lumen  albiis,  without  the  color- 
ing of  cross  or  Trinity,  is  it  not  likely  that  that  is  the  idea,  and  that 
we  are  to  stand  yet  on  the  basis  of  law,  and  to  be  judged  by  a  sim- 
ple government  according  to  the  deeds  done  in  the  body? 

This  is  fascinating.  -kj 

And  remembering,  moreover,  that  our  cumbrous  faith  is  a  legacy 
from  the  days  of  our  fathers,  and  that  when  we  cross  the  sea,  the 
Boodhist  and  the  Mussulman  have  the  same  faith  in  their  hereditary 
doctrines,  we  are  considerably  shaken,  and  the  avatars  of  the  East 
and  the  incarnation  of  our  own  divinity  seem  a  sister  company, 
and  seem  to  waive  their  rights  all  of  them  before  a  simpler  theism. 

Thus  then  we  have  in  considerable  order,  and  with  a  plainness 
that  will  be  advantageous  to  the  truth,  a  sketch  of  the  reasoning 
on  \vhich  this  first  scheme  of  development  depends :  we  have  a 
right  in  the  outset  to  know  what  specifically  is  the  j^oiiit  that  the 
infidel  values  in  the  considerations  that  have  been  given. 

Here  is  a  series  of  facts  constituting  a  series  of  resemblances. 
Does  he  depend  upon  the  facts,  or  does  he  depend  upon  the  re- 
semblances ? 

1.  He  cannot  depend  upon  the  facts. 

1st.  It  is  a  i) armless  fact  that  Christians  believe  the  gospel. 
That  Boodhists  believe  and  Mussulmans  is  the  resemblance. 
That  we  believe  is  a  harmless  and  nowise  discreditable  fact. 

2d.  It  is  a  harmless  fact  that  the  ignorant  believe  or  the 
learned,  as  the  case  may  be.  The  gospel  offers  itself  to  all,  and 
that  any  believe  is  only  a  token  that  it  fulfils  its  mission. 

3d.  That  the  learned  disbelieve  is  harmless.  "  Not  many 
wise,  not  many  mighty,"  is  a  text,  of  Scripture.  That  Zeno 
and  Socrates  disbelieved  is  the  analogy.  That  Gibbon  disbelieved 
is  in  full  consistency  with  the  truth  of  Scripture. 

4th.  It  is  a  harmless  fact  that  Christianity  should  be  contami- 
nated with  vice ;  and, 

5th.  That  it  should  be  confused  with  heresy ;  for  both  these 
are  consistent.  That  cannot  be  charged  against  a  system  that 
would  disprove  it  if  it  were  not  the  case.  If  Christianity  distinctly 
affirms  that  Christians  will  be  wicked  and  Christendom  vexed 
and  divided,  the  fact  free  of  the  analogy  would  only  be  consistent 
if  it  was  as  it  is  found  to  be. 


CHRISTIANITY  A   PERFECT   AND   FINAL   SYSTEM.  311 

6th,  It  is  a  haiQiless  fact  that  the  gospel  is  not  simple. 

And  this  we  place  on  the  foundation  that  the  infidel  is  deceived 
in  his  notion  of  a  God. 

God  is  never  simple. 

Simplicity  has  two  lodging-places,  a  place  in  the  truth  and  A 
place  in  the  mind  by  which  it  is  apprehended.  The  truth  is 
always  simple.  But  the  mind  from  the  feebleness  of  its  powers 
prevents  that  simplicity  from  being  manifest. 

To  this  category  belongs  the  Deity.  He  is  simple.  And  the 
Trinity  makes  him  simple.  But  how  it  operates  to  complete  the 
unity  of  the  Godhead  we  are  utterly  unable  to  conceive. 

But  can  the  infidel  conceive  other  things? 

The  feeling  of  plausibleness  that  started  in  your  mind  was 
due  to  the  idea  that  a  simplicity  was  just  before  you. 

The  idea  seemed  easy.  Give  us  only  a  soul,  or  according  to 
Varro  a  simple  spirit  of  the  universe,  and  our  idea  is  complete, 
for  then  we  have  a  simple  King,  a  revvarder  and  punisher  of  all 
our  actions. 

This  is  your  system.  But  why  were  the  ancients  perplexed 
by  it  ? 

You  object  to  a  Trinity,  but  how  do  you  explain  the  mystery 
of  the  creation  ? 

The  Deity  is  infinite.  The  creation  is  finite.  The  creation  is 
the  history  of  the  Deity.  The  creation  had  a  beginning.  The 
Deity  had  no  beginning.  An  eternity,  therefore,  before  he  offered 
to  create,  he  was  without  a  government,  and  without  an  active 
history. 

This  so  perplexed  the  ancients  that  they  deified  matter,  or  at 
least  denied  the  period  of  its  creation,  and  held  that  it  had  existed 
from  the  eternity  of  God. 

Again,  you  object  to  a  Redemption.  But  how  do  you  simplify 
ordinary  justice?  Where  are  its  punishments?  Virtue  is  de- 
throned and  vice  elevated.     Is  this  simple? 

The  ancients  were  so  pressed  by  it  as  to  invent  metempsychosis, 
and  by  the  stages  of  a  transmigration  to  bury  in  a  cloud  what 
they  could  not  solve  by  an  immediate  government.  But  this  is 
not  simple.  And  if  we  are  to  have  any  expedient,  why  not  take 
the  good  one,  and  if  we  have  no  King  simple  in  act  and  imme- 
diate in  purpose,  why  not  take  the  one  that  is  revealed  by  Jesus 
Christ  reconciling  the  world  through  the  gospel? 

You  are  stumbled  by  the  Incarnation. 


3-12  CHRISTIANITY  A   PERFECT  AND   FINAL   SYSTEM. 

But  can  you  explain  any  of  the  subsistences  of  the  creature? 

Why  does  that  pillar  stand?  It  stands  by  an  energy  residing 
in  it  of  the  Almighty.  Dismiss  that  energy  and  it  falls,  and  it 
falls  so  as  to  seem  nothing  but  energy.  Then  actually  what 
is  it?  The  ancients  solved  the  difficulty  by  inventing  Pantheism. 
And  can  any  one  explain  how  a  thing  can  be  nothing  in  such  a 
sense  that  it  vanishes  when  energy  is  withdrawn,  and  yet  be  dis- 
tinguished in  its  essence  from  the  essence  of  the  energy  itself? 

The  infidel  objects  to  Imputation. 

But  can  he  account  for  sin  ? 

The  ancients  invented  Platonism.  In  laboring  for  a  simple 
God  they  were  embarrassed  by  the  presence  of  calamity,  and 
rather  than  ascribe  pestilences  and  vices  to  the  same  divinity  they 
invented  two,  and  defended  the  simplicity  of  one  by  adding  the 
complexity  of  another. 

Here  then  we  have  been  miserably  deceived.  There  is  no 
fresh  theism  such  as  we  imagined,  but  an  old,  exploded  fantasy. 

And  taking  our  Christianity,  on  which  all  nature  looks  down 
with  evidence,  which  explains  sin  and  accounts  for  pain  and  suf- 
fering, which  arranges  life,  and  takes  up  again  the  ravelled  thread 
of  justice  and  providential  things,  we  are  to  compare  it,  not  with 
reason  or  some  simple  form  imprinted  in  its  beauty  on  the  soul, 
but  with  the  ghastly  and  forbidding  shapes  of  ancient  and  ex- 
ploded superstition. 

2.  But  next  as  to  the  resemblances  :  is  not  the  resemblance  of 
Christianity  to  so  many  mythologies  an  evidence  that  it  is  one 
of  them? 

We  confess  that  it  is. 

If  the  Copernican  system  has  been  preceded  by  fifty  astrono- 
mies, the  prima  facie  evidence  is,  without  waiting  much  for  analo- 
gies, that  it  is  false  like  the  rest.  If  the  world  were  to  entertain 
a  hundred  metaphysics,  and  the  last  were  now  to  be  brought  for- 
ward, the  prima  facie  evidence  would  be  that  it  would  be  only  tem- 
porary.    But  here  are  some  things  obviously  in  our  favor. 

First,  such  hkenesses  are  inevitable.  If  man  discovered  a  true 
metaphysics,  its  analogies  would  be  in  the  nature  of  things.  Map 
out  all  your  consciousness,  and  the  map  would  be  dimmed,  and 
dimmed  by  likeness.  False  systems  would  claim  your  facts,  and 
did  you  do  it  by  inspiration,  analogies  would  confuse  your  map, 
and  men  could  hardly  receive  from  you  a  true  philosophy. 

That  which  assails  all  truth  can  hardly  be  fatal  to  anything. 


CHRISTIANITY  A   PERFECT  AND   FINAL  SYSTEM.  318 

Take  the  Copeinican  system.  It  has  all  species  of  analogy 
with  the  plan  of  Tycho  Brahe. 

Both  considered  motion.  Both  classified  and  connected  motion. 
Both  established  periodicity:  both  calculated  periods.  Both  advo- 
cated truth,  however  one  had  mixed  it  with  ignorance  and  error. 
And  yet  are  we  to  abandon  Copernicus  on  the  faith  of  the  analo- 
gies? Both  had  m3'steries.  Both  had  ignorant  friends,  and  both 
learned  enemies.  And  yet  who  believes  in  a  transition?  Who  is 
*  waiting  for  another  system  to  be  found  ?  and  does  not  take  Co- 
pernicus as  a  last  revealer  of  those  laws  in  the  frame  of  nature  ? 

It  is  true,  analogy  is  powerful. 

1  am  timorous  about  doubting  Christ,  but  I  cross  the  sea,  and 
I  find  a  Turk  as  timorous  about  questioning  Mohammed.  It 
impresses  me.  I  go  to  a  Boodhist,  and  ask  him  for  a  miracle. 
1  go  to  a  Christian,  and  ask  him  for  a  miracle,  and  they  at  this 
particular  age  are  neither  ready  ;  they  point  me  to  the  past.  I 
go  to  Plato,  and  he  laughs  at  the  temples ;  I  go  to  Hobbes  and 
'Spinoza,  and  they  laugh  at  the  churches,  and  this  impresses  me. 
The  only  question  is,  what  are  oar  arguments?  Are  they  multi- 
pHed  enough?  And  are  we  able  to  heap  them 'up  sufficiently 
against  the  opposing  likelihood  ? 

Physicians  tell  us  that  jellies  and  concentrated  essences  are  not 
good  for  the  nourishment  of  the  system.  Food  to  be  good  must 
be  coarse.  Lions  to  be  strong  must  hunt  their  prey.  And  the 
mind  to  be  vigorous  must  not  stumble  upon  truth,  but  dig  for  it  in 
a  period  of  study. 

So  it  is  in  regard  to  our  probation.  Error  is  an  ore  of  truth, 
and  analogy  is  the  law  that  holds  its  ingredients  together.  It  is 
healthy  for  us  to  forge  out  our  faith.  And  though  the  "  evi- 
dences" are  literally  of  every  sort,  prophecy,  miracle,  fact  and  tes- 
timony, yet  we  are  not  to  receive  them  like  the  devils,  who  believe 
and  tremble,  but  like  inquiring  men ;  and  the  difficulties  that  dis- 
turb shall  be  edifying  in  their  influence  on  the  mind. 

II.  It  is  time,  however,  that  we  should  notice  the  second  species 
of  development  which  is  that  of  nature,  that  Christianity  is  a  step 
in  the  omvard  development  of  something  that  exists  in  fact,  but 
in  a  very  immature  condition. 

We  can  illustrate  by  facts  in  its  own  origin.  Adam  received  the 
message,  "  In  the  day  thou  eatest  thereof  thou  shalt  surely  die." 

This  was  the  religion  cf  the  time.  Buthowgerminalit  was  is 
seen  in  the  fact  that  subsequent  developments  have  entirely  relieved 


314  CHRISTIANITY   A   VERFECT  AND   FINAL   SYSTEM. 

it,  and   the  very  persons  that  received  the  message,  are  exalted 
higher  than  before  thejr  iniquity  occurred. 

So  of  the  protevangehuin.  "  The  seed  of  the  woman  shall  bruise 
the  serpent's  head,"  was  the  gospel  of  its  time.  And  Christians 
might  be  ready  to  confess  that  it  imparted  few  ideas,  and  some 
of  these  imperfect  and  distorted  in  their  reception  by  the  people. 

The  same  is  true  of  the  system  of  Abraham.  It  noticed 
little  a  hereafter.  It  was  crude  and  dark  :  and  the  apostles  them- 
selves confessed  that  it  was  a  bondage  under  the  rudiments  of  the 
world. 

Now  what  are  we  to  say  of  the  like  in  Christianity?  We  are 
no  judges.  We  are  living  in  the  system.  The  men  of  the  time 
cannot  detect  the  crudities  of  their  own  opinion.  The  argument 
from  simplicity  is  wasted  :  for  the  simple  threat  "in  the  day  thou 
eatest  thereof  thou  shall  surely  die,"  was  a  simpler  information 
for  practice,  than  all  the  light  and  all  the  precept  of  our  superior 
religion. 

This  is  an  interesting  idea.  The  protevangelium,  "  The  seed 
of  the  woman  shall  bruise  the  serpent's  head"  put  Adam  in  a 
simpler  state  than  us,  for  without  the  complexities  of  Christianity, 
he  learned  only  that  out  of  the  sins  that  were  beginning  to  reign, 
and  out  of  the  evils  that  were  beginning  to  afflict  him,  the  offspring 
of  the  woman  was  to  appear  for  his  deliverance. 

Now  the  theory  may  be  advanced.  Christianity  is  germinating 
yet.  It  is  the  mere  embryo  of  a  sublimer  manifestation.  And 
our  zeal  in  considering  it  as  perfect  may  only  be  the  fondness  of 
the  misguided  Hebrew  who  would  rest  in  the  shadows  of  the  law, 
rather  than  embrace  the  substance  of  the  gospel. 

It  would  seem  a  natural  way  of  replying  to  this  theory  to  take 
up  the  doctrines  of  the  cross,  and  show  that  they  are  final  in  their 
nature.  So  under  the  head  of  invention  we  might  have  denied 
development,  and  showed  that  Christianity  reached  back  from  the 
beginning,  and  could  not  historically  have  been  derived  from  myths. 
But  this,  and  more  that  we  could  have  done  in  showing  that  myths 
were  derived  from  Christianity,  would  have  involved  us  in  contro- 
versy, and  called  up  a  multitude  of  questions,  that  we  could  not 
have  despatched  in  the  limits  of  our  lecture. 

We  are  driven,  therefore,  to  a  shorter  method. 
■  We  say,  grant  there  may  be  a  development. 

Literalists  believe  that  Christ  is  personally  to  reign.  It  is  a 
harmless  doctrine  in  contrast  with  infidelity,  and  no  one  would 


CHRISTIANITY  A  PERFECT   AND   FINAL  SYSTEM.  815 

implicate  the  two,  lest  pious  persons  should  believe  in  the  first 
and  be  harassed  by  connections  with  the  other.  But  if  Christ 
come,  that  is  a  developed  Christianity,  Personal  interviews  with 
men  would  develop  our  intelligence,  and  free  intercourse  for  ages 
would  bring  out  wonders,  and  fill,  as  it  will  be  in  heaven,  all  our 
minds  with  believing  admiration. 

It  is  better  therefore  to  meet  the  idea  of  development  not  with 
an  iron-bound  denial,  but  an  appeal  to  the  nature  of  things  show- 
ing that  the  most  glorious  development  of  light  must  be  only  a 
kindling  of  the  twilight  of  the  gospel. 

Naturalists  have  imagined  that  the  world  was  in  a  state  of 
progress.  They  imagine  the  nebular  hypothesis  that  all  things 
existed  originally  in  a  state  of  vapor,  and  that  by  a  series  of 
changes,  some  of  which  have  been  calculated,  central  masses  and 
concentric  rings,  and  finally  revolving  planets  have  resulted  from 
the  principles  of  nature. 

Attributing  to  matter  further  powers  to  vivify  and  improve 
itself,  they  have  skeptically  imagined  a  progression  by  which 
germs  and  motions  and  finally  plants  and  life  have  been  succes- 
sively evolved  from  this  ceaselessly  improving  materiality. 

Now  this  will  illustrate  the  instance  of  religion. 

If  .matter  be  developed  in  the  manner  stated,  it  must  either  be 
by  God  or  by  a  system  in  itself.  If  it  be  by  God,  then  it  must  be 
truthfully,  or  if  it  be  by  matter,  then  eminently  it  must  be  truth- 
fully by  some  order.  The  vapor  out  of  which  the  universe  is  to 
evolve  must  be  singularly  instinct  with  a  truthfulness  to  its  whole 
design. 

Now  this  we  claim  in  respect  to  religion.  If  it  is  a  develop- 
ment of  a  series  of  phenomena,  these  phenomena  must  be  con- 
tinually facts.  If  a  leaf-bud  is  to  generate  a  flower  it  must  be 
instinct  with  the  flower  at  the  beginning.  If  a  chaos  is  to  evolve 
a  world  it  must  be  instinct  with  the  world ;  and  so  of  religion. 
If  it  is  a  series  of  developments,  whether  they  are  of  God  or  some- 
thing else,  the  moulds  or  patterns  of  the  whole  must  be  in  it  from 
the  beginning. 

Now  the  doctrine  of  development  carried  to  the  undermining  of 
Christianity  would  make  Christianity  singular  among  things. 

There  is  a  certain  order  in  growth.  The  solid  parts  are  first 
attended  to.  The  gneiss  and  granite  of  the  hills  have  been  laid, 
so  we  are  to  understand,  before  the  marble.  The  spine  and  the 
blood-vessels  appear  in  the  earhest  orders  of  the  creatures ;  the 


816  CHRISTIAJSriTY  A   PERFECT  AND  FINAL  SYSTEM. 

root  and  the  leaf-stem,  in  the  gigantic  ferns.  And  so  in  religion, 
the  essential  root,  Christ  reconciling  the  world  by  his  death  ap- 
pears in  the  earliest  ova,  if  you  prefer  to  speak  so,  of  the  Chris- 
tian religion. 

Then  now  another  principle.  Things  develop  themselves  till 
their  parts  at  last  are  thoroughly  identified.  The  fossil  megalo- 
saurus  has  a  distinct  eye  and  a  distinct  shoulder ;  and  so,  rising  ia 
the  scale,  a  lion  or  a  man  has  distinct  organs  that  have  come  at 
last  to  be  identified,  and  in  respect  to  which  it  is  impossible  to 
entertain  a  doubt  however  much  the  species  might  be  elevated. 
The  stars  revealed  themselves  to  the  Chaldees  in  the  distinctest 
motions.  Astronomy  was  in  its  crudest  state,  and  yet  some  facts 
were  settled.  And  if  you  ask  me  how,  I  answer  by  intuitive  per- 
ception. The  facts  stared  at  them  from  the  skies,  and  the  mind 
seized  on  them  as  her  own,  and  has  retained  them  as  her  per- 
petual possession.  We  can  illustrate  by  the  system  of  Coper- 
nicus ;  a  thousand  crudities  had  prevailed,  but  the  facts  finally 
fell  into  their  places  like  type  into  a  form,  and  now  it  would  be 
just  as  impossible  to  shake  the  conviction  of  astronomers  as  the 
conviction  of  a  child  about  his  plainest  verity. 

How  much  then  can  the  infidel  assail  us,  if  he  will  grant  us 
two  facts,  first,  that  as  nature  develops,  her  improvements  sink 
steadily  in  structural  importance,  and  therefore  her  prime  things 
are  present  in  the  beginning ;  and,  secondly,  that  as  slie  develops, 
her  parts  successively  identify  themselves,  and  that  by  discoveries 
of  the  mind  as  certain  as  if  the  whole  were  there? 

We  pretermit,  therefore,  the  argument  that  there  will  be  no 
other  revelation,  and  sufl^er  the  infidel  to  indulge  the  highest 
hopes  of  future  light.  We  only  say  that  the  development  at- 
tained already,  binds  him  down  to  a  sufficient  gospel. 

The  statement  that  Christ  died  and  rose  again,  never  can  be 
developed  into  a  doctrine  that  he  never  descended  from  the 
Father.  The  statement  that  he  died  for  our  sins  according  to 
the  Scriptures,  never  can  be  developed  into  a  naked  Deism.  The 
statement,  that  the  heart  is  deceitful  above  all  things  and  desper- 
ately wicked,  never  can  be  developed  into  the  statement  that  it 
is  as  it  was  meant  to  be.  And  the  statement  that  he  that  be- 
lieveth  on  Christ  hath  everlasting  life,  never  can  merge  itself 
into  some  after-faith  resting  our  hope  upon  mere  obedience  to  the 
law. 

We  pass  on  next  to  the  third  head. 


CHRISTIANITY   A   PERFECT  AND   FINAL   SYSTEM.  317 

III.  The  third  species  of  development  is  a  development  under 
which  Christianity  is  regarded  as  a  form  in  transitu  to  a  higher 
development  of  religious  knowledge. 

This  is  the  species  of  Morell. 

Morell's  metaphysics  as  a  separate  introduction  to  tlie  case  need 
not  trouble  us,  for  we  can  admit  :hem  all  and  still  show  its  utter 
impracticability. 

This  perhaps  were  the  better  way- 
It  is  the  part  of  a  logician  to  deny  only  what  is  necessary  of  an 
adversary's  system.  And  as  this,  which  is  essentially  German,  is 
spreading  among  men,  it  is  best  perhaps  to  stand  clear,  and  not 
let  our  argument  depend  upon  anything  fundamental  in  a  favorite 
psychology. 

We  may  say  a  few  things,  however. 

First,  we  object  to  the  very  elements  of  Morell's  system.  The 
"  logical  consciousness,"  and  "  the  intuitional  consciousness,"  as  an 
anal3'^sis  of  our  thinking,*  are  a  solecism.  Logical  conceptions  are 
as  much  intuitional  as  the  conceptions  of  their  subject  matter.  Rea- 
soning is  a  series  of  intuitions  ;  and  when  we  affirm  the  relation 
between  truths  we  as  much  appeal  to  an  intuitional  power  as  when 
we  see  justice  or  see  beauty  in  the  facts  around  us.  We  quarrel, 
therefore,  with  the  division ;  but  we  would  be  sorry  to  implicate 
with  that  a  belief  in  Christianity. 

Again,  we  object  to  a  second  step.  Religion,  we  are  told,  in  its 
essence  is  a  feeling  of  dependence.!  Now  religion  is  a  broad  state. 
We  might  as  well  say  it  was  patriotism  or  a  motherly  atlection. 
We  might  as  well  say  it  was  giving  of  alms  or  shouldering  a  bur- 
den. We  might  as  well  say  it  was  love  or  hatred.  If  we  might 
narrow  it  down  to  any  fact,  we  might  call  it  knowledge. 

Knowledge,  in  its  broadest  sense,  includes  our  tastes  and  the 
notitise  of  conscience.  What  a  blind  man  cannot  see  is  part  of 
our  knowledge ;  and  what  a  painter  appreciates  in  beauty  and 
proportion  above  an  ordinary  eye  is  part  of  his  knowledge;  and 
so  also  is  our  cognizance  of  light,  and  our  appreciation  of  excel- 
lence of  character.  In  this  sense  religion's  essence  is  in  knowledge, 
if  you  will  allow  that  term  to  be  inseparable  from  one  accompany- 
ing fact:  I  mean  attendant  emotion. 

So  faith  is  a  low  stage  of  knowledge.  Obedience  springs  from 
knowledge.  Love  and  penitence  flow  from  knowledge.  "  I  have 
heard  of  thee  by  the  hearing  of  the  ear,  but  now  mine  eye 
*  Philos.  of  Religion,  Am.  Ed  chs.  1  &  2.  t  lb.  cb.  3. 


S18  CHRISTIANITY  A  PERFECT  AND   FINAL   SYSTEM. 

seeth  thee.  Therefore  I  abhor  myself  and  repent  in  dust  and 
ashes." 

Again,  we  object  strongly  to  the  idea  of  revelation  as  a  height- 
ened consciousness.*  Morell  in  his  apparently  candid  division  of 
historic  facts  and  conscious  intuitions,  ignores  a  third  species  of 
truth  which  does  not  come  out  either  under  the  added  head  of 
*  logical  constructions.'!  'Logical  constructions'  he  defines  to  be  the 
formal  stating  of  our  material  intuitions.  Now  there  is  something 
more  than  this.  There  are  doctrinal  revelations.  Historic  facts 
he  alleges  could  be  gotten  by  an  eye-witness,  and  then  nothing 
more  would  be  necessary  to  write  the  Scriptures  than  a  heightened 
conscious  intuition.  But  there  is  a  third  thing  required — doctri- 
nal fact.  Who  explained  the  historic  fact?  Who  clustered  about 
Christ  a  system  of  atoning  life?  Who  told  us  what  he  was?  This 
is  not  history  but  exposition,  and  could  appear  no  more  upon  the 
face  of  the  crucifixion,  than  it  could  be  stirred  up  within  us  by  our 
interior  consciousness.  There  is  a  tertium  quid,  therefore,  that 
Morell  has  not  noticed.  His  logical  construction  is  a  mere  ex- 
pounding of  our  intuitions,  and  the  doctrine  of  a  Trinity  could  as 
poorly  spring  up  in  that  way,  as  sights  and  odours  without  the  in- 
strument of  sense. 

Again,  we  object  to  the  idea  that  inspiration  depends  upon  piety.t 
and  strange  to  say,  this  we  refute  consistently  with  the  theory  of 
Morell. 

Piety  is  but  one  intuition. 

There  is  an  intuition  of  justice,  an  intuition  of  power,  an  intui- 
tion of  truth,  generally.  Balaam  had  intuitions  that  were  any- 
thing but  intuitions  of  piety.  Grant  that  inspiration  were  all 
intuition,  there  are  a  thousand  intuitions  that  unite  besides  the 
intuition  of  moral  excellence.  If  piety  were  all  our  intuition,  the 
most  pious  men  would  be  the  most  doctrinally  intelligent.  Abra- 
ham would  be  more  doctrinally  intelligent  than  we,  and  a  pious 
slave  necessarily  more  so  than  his  master ;  which  is  so  far  from 
being  the  case,  that  the  most  learned  doctrinal  disquisitions  have 
been  of  those  who  had  no  piety  at  all. 

Again,  we  object  to  a  new  organon.§  Bacon's  method  is  as  old 
as  the  creation.  It  is  like  the  brain,  congenital.  Adam  used  it 
in  naming  the  beasts.  The  Baconian  method  is  the  instinctive 
organon  of  children.    The  office  of  Bacon,  like  a  lecturer  upon  the 

*  Philos.  Relig.  chs.  5  <fe  6.        f  lb.  p.  211.        %  lb.  cL  6  et  al.        §  lb.  p  201. 


CHRISTIANITY   A   PERFECT  AND   FINAL   SYSTEM.  319 

brain,  was  to  show  the  instrument,  though  the  instrument  existed 
since  tlie  eailiest  geneiahzation. 

But  though  these  things  are  serious  as  respects  other  errors,  yet 
as  to  the  doctrine  of  development  we  would  concede  them  all. 

What  does  the  skeptic  argue  for?  1.  Is  it  historic  fact*  that 
is  to  develop? — that  we  concede,  but  the  facts  of  the  past  cannot 
be  altered  by  the  facts  of  the  future. 

2.  Is  it  intuitional  consciousness  ?t  What  is  that  ?  If  Morell 
asserts  that  it  is  piety,  we  agree  again,  for  piety  is  certainly  to 
develop.  "The  wolf  also  shall  dwell  with  the  lamb,  and  the 
leopard  shall  lie  down  with  the  kid,  and  the  calf  and  the  young 
lion  and  the  fatling  together,  and  a  little  child  shall  lead  them." 

What  is  it  though?  Is  it  doctrinal  intelligence?  That  also 
we  acknowledge  :  and  if  it  means  actual  informations,  we  claim 
the  usual  rules.  Systems  grow  from  the  foundations  upward. 
Two  and  two  will  be  four  in  the  highest  regions  of  analysis.  God 
will  be  in  Christ  reconciling  the  world  to  himself,  when  the  high- 
est millennial  light  shall  have  dawned  upon  the  mind, 

3.  Nothing  therefore  is  left  to  Morell  but  logical!  development, 
which  he  confesses  is  the  fruit  of  intuition.  We  ask  nothing  but 
that  intuition  shall  really  be  intuitive,  and  settle  upon  truths  as 
truths  that  are  possessed  already  in  the  system.  The  electrician, 
for  example,  believes  polarity,  whatever  discoveries  maybe  added. 
The  astronomer  has  settled  upon  periods.  The  mathematician, 
as  we  have  seen,  is  convinced  of  his  arithmetic.  And  so  give  us 
the  first  principles  of  the  doctrine  of  Christ,  and  we  will  gladly 
go  on  unto  perfection. 

And  it  is  interesting  to  see  how  httle  this  view  is  affected  by 
anything  we  concede  to  the  psychologist. 

Give  him  his  organon. 

If  a  new  organon  is  discovered,  it  will  improve  religion.  We 
agree  that  it  will  clear  it.  It  will  not  add  to  its  distinctive  truths : 
though  here  we  need  not  stickle  with  the  infidel.  His  great 
attack  is  against  the  fundamentals  of  the  faith,  and  these  his 
organon  would  spare.  The  old  organon  has  spared  them  in  every 
science. 

So  on  the  other  hand,  we  are  not  afraid  of  the  idea  that  if  intui- 
tional and  doctrinal  religion  are  the  same,  and  the  first  is  identi- 
cal with  piety,  that  as  the  intuitional  improves,  religion  will  again 
be  benef  ted — if  you  please,  developed — that  is,  cleared  in  the  out- 

*  Philos.  Relig.  p.  211.  f  lb.  $  lb. 


320  CHEISTIANITY   A   PERFECT   AND   FINAL   SYSTEM, 

line  of  its  truth,  and  filled  out  in  its  doctrinal  proportions ;  for 
what  is  this  asserting  than  that  intelligence  and  piety  united  will 
see  more  of  the  truth  than  where  there  is  less  of  either.  We  be- 
lieve intelligence  and  piety  are  to  be  revered.  But  if  it  is  not  so, 
that  will  be  an  excellent  man  who  has  them  growing  up  in  him 
proportionally  together,  and  that  will  be  a  glorious  age,  when 
awakened  light  shall  be  one  with  extraordinary  piety. 


*..  fJi.   .^ 


€^t  (Btuml  Sntenuil  €mknu  nf  Cl)ristioniti|. 


BT 

EGBERT  J.  BRECKINRIDGE,   D.D.LL.D., 

SOPKEINTENDKNT   OF    PUBLIC    INSTKOOTION    FOR   THE    COMMONWEALTH    OF   KKS<TUCKT. 


1.  As  far  as  we  have  any  knowledge  of  the  past  history  of  our 
race,  independently  of  the  information  derived  from  thevolumecom- 
monly  called  the  Word  of  God,  portions  of  that  race  have  always 
been  in  possession  of  portions  of  that  volume.  In  it  are  contained 
by  far  the  most  ancient  records  of  mankind.  It  has  preserved 
for  us  all  that  we  know  of  the  history  of  our  race,  during  at 
least  the  earlier  half  of  its  supposed  existence  upon  earth.  In  it 
alone  are  found  any  precise  ideas  of  the  origin  of  our  race,  or 
any  clear  and  comprehensive  statements  of  its  general  career  and 
destiny.  And  it  alone  furnishes  us  with  complete,  categorical, 
and  unalterable  directions  for  the  universal  guidance  of  human 
conduct.  For  nearly  eighteen  centuries  it  has  existed  in  its  pres- 
ent form  ;  and  the  whole  of  it,  as  long  as  it  has  thus  existed — and 
every  part  of  it,  as  each  part  was  successively  produced,  through 
succeeding  generations,  from  the  remotest  antiquity — has  been 
accepted  by  continually  increasing  numbers  of  the  human  race, 
as  the  Word  of  God.  At  present,  it  is  so  accepted  by  most  civil- 
ized nations,  and  in  the  popular  belief  of  the  most  enlightened 
half  of  the  human  family. 

2.  The  existence  amongst  men  of  a  belief  in  the  being  of  God, 
has  been,  perhaps,  more  general  than  any  other  human  belief 
In  what  manner  it  originated,  and  upon  what  grounds  it  has  been 
so  universally  propagated,  are  questions  upon  which  men  have 
chosen  to  dispute ;  but  the  fact  itself  does  not  admit  of  being  dis- 
puted. Upon  the  hypothesis  of  what  is  called  natural  religion, 
most  questions  touching  the  origin  and  propagation  of  this  belief, 
do  indeed  admit  of  being  solved;  for  as  soon  as  we  allow  that 
religion  is  natural  to  man,  it  follows  that  it  is  natural  for  him  to 
believe  in  the  objects  about  which  religion  essentially  concerns 
itself,  and  therefore  in  God.  Upon  the  hypothesis  of  revealed  reli- 
gion, everything  is  clear  at  once ;  since  the  creation  of  man  by 
God,  with  a  nature  capable  of  receiving  the  knowledge  of  him, 


324  THE   INTERNAL   EVIDENCE   OF   CHRISTIANITY. 

and  power  to  retain,  even  though  it  might  deface  tliat  knowledge  : 
and  then  the  communication  of  that  knowledge  by  God  to  man  ; 
explain  in  the  clearest  manner,  the  origin  and  permanence  of  a 
belief  so  remarkable.  Upon  any  other  hypothesis  but  one  of 
these  two,  it  seems  extremely  difficult,  if  not  indeed  utterly  im- 
possible, to  account  for  the  existence  of  any  idea  of  God  in  the 
minds  of  men — much  less  for  the  universal  prevalence  of  a  belief 
in  his  being,  and  our  dependence  on  him,  and  accountability  to 
him.  The  existence  of  the  facts  is  of  immense  significance.  Our 
ability  to  explain  them,  in  some  good  degree,  upon  the  ground  of 
natural  religion — as  commonly  so  called — is  a  great  step  taken. 
Our  ability  to  clear  them  up  perfectly,  upon  the  ground  of  revealed 
religion,  is  a  far  higher  and  more  important  step.  Our  inability  to 
explain  them  at  all,  upon  any  other  ground,  seems  to  conclude 
the  whole  matter.  It  is  under  the  full  impression  of  this  utter 
impotency  of  infidelity  in  all  its  forms,  to  explain  the  most  com- 
mon and  fundamental  of  all  our  religious  ideas,  and  to  account 
for  the  most  universal  of  our  religious  beliefs — that  passing  over 
the  great,  but  obscure  domain  of  natural  religion,  we  are  allowed 
to  come  into  the  presence  of  a  revealed  God. 

3.  The  authenticity  and  the  uncorrupLed  preservation  of  every 
part  of  this  volume,  are  distinct  questions,  and  of  fundamental 
importance.  They  belong  to  the  domain  of  another  lecture  in  this 
course.  Upon  the  first  of  those  questions,  it  may  be  observed  in 
general,  that  the  Bible,  though  in  many  important  senses  a  single 
book,  is  in  reality  made  up  of  many  separate  books — each  one  of 
which  is  in  fact,  and  was  historically,  a  distinct  treatise.  These 
treatises  were  composed  by  a  considerable  number  of  different 
persons,  and  many  centuries  elapsed  between  the  composition 
of  the  first  and  the  last  of  them.  Who  wrote  these  various 
treatises — at  what  times  and  under  what  circumstances — how 
and  when  they  were  gathered  successively  together — distributed 
under  certain  general  classifications — and  at  last  brought  into  the 
condition  of  a  single  volume,  containing  in  absolute  completeness 
all  the  separate  parts,  and  containing  nothing  else  ; — all  these  are 
questions,  which,  so  far  as  they  are  not  settled  by  the  writers 
themselves,  and  by  the  contents  of  their  treatises,  have  been 
completely  determined  by  discussions,  which,  during  many  centu- 
ries, have  attended  these  oracles  across  the  track  of  ages.  Upon 
the  second  of  the  two  questions  embraced  under  this  head,  it  may 
also  be  stated,  in  general,  that  with  regard  to  the  text  of  the  Old 


THE   INTERNAL   EVIDENCE   OF   CHRISTIANITY.  325 

Testatnent  scriptures,  (lie  state  of  the  whole  matter  as  between 
the  Jews  and  the  Christians;  and  with  regard  to  the  text  of  the 
New  Testament,  the  state  of  the  whole  matter  as  between  llie 
various  Christian  sects  from  the  very  beginning;  and  with  regard 
to  the  text  of  both  testaments,  the  state  of  the  whole  matter  as 
between  the  receivers  and  the  rejecters  of  divine  revelation — has 
put  the  question  of  the  purity  of  the  entire  text,  and  its  perfect 
preservation,  in  a  light  extraordinarily  clear — and  has  accumu- 
lated an  amount  of  evidence,  decisive,  out  of  all  comparison  touch- 
ing any  other  book  in  the  world.  So  far  as  these  points  are  im- 
portant to  the  present  discussion,  they  must  be  accepted  as  set- 
tled ;  and  the  more  numerous  and  the  more  difficult  they  may  be 
supposed  to  have  been,  the  more  important  do  they  become,  after 
being  successfully  determined,  to  the  argument  which  is  to 
follow. 

4.  The  authority  of  this  book  is  a  question  not  necessarily  con- 
nected with  either  of  the  foregoing  questions  ;  tliough  it  is  usually 
treated  as  if  it  were  absolutely  dependent  on  both  of  them.  To 
human  reason,  its  authority  might,  in  many  respects,  be  absolute, 
even  if  we  knew  notliing  of  its  authors — its  origin  or  its  preser- 
vation ;  for  even  in  that  case  it  might  obviously  contain  the  most 
precious  truth — set  in  the  clearest  light.  In  the  same  manner  and 
upon  similar  conditions,  its  moral  influence  might  be  decisive,  so 
far  as  the  influence  of  what  is  good  and  what  is  beautiful  is  capa- 
ble, of  itself,  of  leading  captive  such  souls  as  ours.  And  it  is 
undeniable  that  the  gentler,  the  purer,  and  the  higher  classes  of 
human  spirits  are  deeply  and  permanently  affected  by  the  con- 
tents of  this  marvellous  book,  contemplated  only  in  the  manner 
just  stated,  in  proportion  as  those  contents  become  familiar  to 
them.  Upon  such  grounds  the  Christian  may  well  challenge  the 
attention,  and  claim  the  reverence  of  mankind — for  a  volume  ca- 
pable of  producing  such  eflfects,  in  such  a  manner:  but  they  are 
so  much  lower  than  other  grounds  on  which  its  authority  is  as- 
serted, that  he  does  not  much  insist  on  these.  It  is  upon  the 
ground  of  God's  absolute  authority,  that  we  claim  for  this  book 
the  universal  reception  and  obedience  of  mankind.  We  say  God 
has  spoken  it.  It  is  the  direct  product  of  Gods  intelligence — the 
immediate  utterance  of  God's  authority  :  as  completely  so  as  if 
we  saw  and  heard  him.  Its  truth  is  thus  ascertained  with  an  in- 
finite certainty,  and  proclaimed  with  an  infinite  authority :  and 
men  are,  therefore,  under  an  infinite  obligation  to  know,  to  believe, 


o26  THE   INTERNAL   EVIDENCE   OF   CHRISTIANITY. 

and  to  obey  it.  Our  faith  stands,  not  in  the  wisdom  of  men,  but 
in  the  power  of  God.  God  is  infinitely  true,  and  infinitely  ex- 
alted ;  so  that  his  communications  to  us  have  an  infinite  au- 
thority. 

5.  Still  further.  It  is  by  the  inspiration  and  the  revelation  of 
God,  that  the  contents  of  this  volume  are  placed  on  grounds  upon 
which  it  claims  to  be  an  infallible  guide  to  the  faith  and  obedience 
of  men :  just  as  the  veracity  and  the  majesty  of  God  are  the  final 
basis  of  its  reception.  Precisely  as  our  infinite  obligation  to  re- 
ceive it  at  all  rests  on  the  latter  basis — so  our  infinite  security  in 
receiving  it  as  an  infaUible  guide  rests  on  the  former  :  the  manner 
of  its  being  ascertained  to  us,  as  the  word  of  God,  being  the  chief 
element  in  one  case,  and  the  fact  that  it  is  his  word  in  the  other. 
1  use  both  words,  inspiration  and  revelation — for,  to  me,  they  con- 
vey ideas  substantially  distinct — yet  both  of  them  indispensable. 
Amongst  things  known,  or  that  might  be  known,  God  has  inspired 
men  to  record  here,  such  as  we  are  to  receive  with  a  divine  faith  : 
and  amongst  things  unknown,  and  incapable  of  being  known,  by 
means  merely  human,  God  has  revealed  some  to  his  servants,  and 
inspired  them  to  record  them,  as  thus  revealed.  Thus  revealed 
and  thus  inspired,  divine  in  its  infinite  sanctions,  and  divine  in  its 
infinite  certainty,  the  word  of  God  comes  to  us  with  the  simple 
and  sublime  utterance — believe  and  live !  A  ground  and  a  rule 
at  once  of  absolute  assurance  and  absolute  completeness  in  all 
our  beliefs  and  all  our  obedience,  bestowed  on  us  by  God.  All 
that  we  knew,  and  all  that  of  ourselves  we  could  know,  touching 
our  duty  and  our  destiny,  has  been  set  before  us  in  a  new  and  a 
clear  light,  and  with  divine  authority;  while  that  which,  of  our- 
selves, we  never  could  have  known,  is  communicated  to  us  by 
God,  as  to  its  matter  with  divine  authority,  and  as  to  its  manner 
with  divine  certainty.  Those  ultimate  truths  upon  which  all  our 
duties  rest — many  of  which  as  applicable  to  our  fallen  condition 
we  had  never  known,  and  many  others,  in  our  blindness  and  per- 
verseness,  had  greatly  obscured — are  cleared  up  with  a  light  from 
heaven  itself;  and  then  between  every  one  and  all  the  duties 
which  flow  from  it,  the  authority  of  God  is  interposed — thus 
doubly  confirming,  establishing,  and  enforcing  all. 

6.  Upon  the  supposition  that  men  are  not  naturally  corrupt, 
averse  to  what  is  spiritually  good,  and  incredulous  of  what  is 
spiritually  true,  it  is  not  possible  to  conceive  that  they  should 
avoid  the  immediate  recognition  and  joyful  reception  of  such  a 


THE   INTERNAL   EVIDENCE   OF   CHRISTIANITY.  327 

communication  from  God.  Yet  we  see  tiiat  they  everywhere 
resist,  evade,  pervert  and  reject  it.  It  is  needful  incessantly,  not 
only  to  instruct  them  in  the  faith  it  reveals,  and  the  duties  it 
enforces — and  to  recall  their  forgetful  thoughts  to  the  hopes  it  in- 
spires and  (he  ruin  it  denounces  ;  but  even  to  array  before  them 
the  proofs  that  a  message  has  reached  them  from  above.  Of  this 
last  description  is  the  particular  duty  required  of  me,  at  this  time  ; 
and  all  these  preliminary  statements,  are  designed  to  open  the 
way,  and  advance  us  upon  a  clear  and  firm  position,  for  its  dis- 
charge. The  question  assigned  to  me,  in  the  programme  of  this 
course  of  lectures,  involves  a  most  important  and  difficult  portion 
of  the  proofs  to  which  I  have  just  alluded.  What  is  the  nature 
and  amount  of  the  evidence  afforded  us,  entirely  or  mainly,  by  the 
Bible  itself,  that  it  is  the  Word  of  God,  in  the  sense  of  all  the 
statements  I  have  hitherto  made?  In  what  manner  can  we 
deduce  this  grand  conclusion  from  considerations  drawn  from  the 
contemplation  of  the  contents  of  the  Bible,  considered  absolutely 
— or  considered  relatively  to  all  we  know  of  God,  of  the  universe, 
and  of  ourselves?  What,  in  short,  is  the  general  nature  of  that 
proof  for  the  divine  authority  of  the  Scriptures,  commonly, 
though  somewhat  vaguely  called,  the  internal  evidence?  In 
treating  this  great  point  I  shall  omit  many  things  which  will  be 
found  in  most  publications  which  expressly  discuss  the  subject ; 
insert  some,  which,  as  far  as  I  know,  have  been  generally  over- 
looked ;  and  distribute  the  whole  in  such  an  order,  as  appears  to 
me  to  give  to  each  separate  consideration  its  just  weight — and  to 
the  whole,  taken  together,  the  force  of  a  connected  argument. 
Of  course,  nothing  can  be  amplified  in  such  a  performance  as 
this  ;  and  the  whole  can  be  considered  only  an  outline — which 
ought  to  be  complete,  so  far  as  its  own  general  conception  ex- 
tends, but  every  part  of  which  is  capable  of  indefinite  expansion 
and  illustration. 

II. 

1.  They  tell  us,  on  the  threshold,  that  it  is  not  competent  for 
us  to  prove  that  God  has  spoken  to  us — much  less  to  prove  this 
by  any  considerations  connected  with  the  message  itself — until  we 
have  first  proved  that  God  exists ;  and,  moreover,  that  we  must 
prove  this  latter  point,  not  only  previously  to,  but  independently  of, 
the  former.     I  could  have  wished  that  a  separate  lecture  on  the 


S28  THE  INTERNAL   EVIDENCE  OF  CHRISTIANITr. 

being  and  attributes  of  God  had  formed  a  pait  of  this  course; 
not  only  as  by  this  means  greater  completeness  would  have  been 
given  to  the  whole  ;  but  especially  because,  in  our  day,  there  is  a 
growing  infidelity,  much  of  which  wickedly  baptizes  itself  into 
the  name  of  Christ,  the  fundamental  error  of  which  attacks  the 
separate,  personal  existence  of  God.  As  there  is  none,  I  may 
the  more  properly  clear  this  particular  objection — though  avoid- 
ing, as  I  needs  must,  the  general  argument.  To  that  end,  sup- 
pose I  were  to  make  the  same  challenge  to  an  argument  designed 
to  prove  from  the  work  of  creation,  that  the  universe  has  a  divine 
author :  and  demand  that  the  existence  of  God,  be  first  and  in- 
dependently proved — before  any  one  shall  attempt  to  prove,  that 
all  created  things  are  his  handy-work  ?  Suppose,  again,  I  should 
interpose  a  similar  challenge,  to  an  argument  purporting  to  prove 
the  existence  of  God,  as  the  ruler  of  the  universe — or  the  judge 
and  final  rewarder  of  men,  or  their  merciful  benefactor — either 
from  considerations  drawn  from  the  general  order  of  nature,  or 
the  universal  course  of  providence,  or  the  adaptation  of  man  to 
the  universe  7  Is  it  not  obvious  that  the  objection  applies  in  the 
same  manner,  and  nearly  to  the  same  extent,  in  one  case  as  in 
another?  They  first  deny  that  we  can  prove  the  existence  of 
God  by  any  argument,  a  priori.  Independently  of  that,  there  is 
his  work  within  us  ;  and  this  also  they  deny.  Independently  of 
these  two,  there  is  no  way  in  which  we  can  know  anything  of 
God,  except  by  the  external  manifestations  he  makes  of  himself. 
If  he  had  made  but  one  kind  of  external  manifestation  of  him- 
self— that  would  be  a  way,  whether  of  works,  or  providence,  or 
word,  to  know  him  :  but  if  he  makes  many  external  manifesta- 
tions of  himself,  each  is  a  way  as  real  as  any  other,  and  to  those 
capable  of  comprehending  it,  as  conclusive,  both  that  he  is,  and 
what  he  is.  It  might  just  as  well  be  said  that  the  course  of 
providence  affords  no  proof  of  the  being  of  God,  but  only  an 
elucidation  of  his  character,  after  his  being  had  been  previously 
and  independently  proved.  And  the  same  thing  might  be  said 
of  the  works  of  God.  We  have  no  more  idea — perhaps  not  so 
much — how  God  ought  to  make  a  world,  or  how  he  ought  to 
govern  it — than  how  he  ought  to  speak  to  it.  In  this  case,  there- 
fore, the  word  of  God  may  be  as  real  and  as  legitimate  a  source 
of;  proof  of  his  existence,  as  either  his  works  or  his  providence 
can  be:  since  it  is  just  as  certain  that  if  God  has  spoken,  there 
is  a  Godj  as  it  is  that  if  God  creates,  or  God  rules,  there  is  a  God : 


THE   INTERNAL  EVIDENCE  OF   CHRISTIANITY.  329 

and  it  cannot  be  pretended  that  it  is  more  difficult  to  deduce  any- 
thing whatever  concerning  God,  from  a  full  revelation  of  himself 
by  words,  than  by  works,  or  by  providence.  It  is  very  manifest 
that  a  demand  that  we  shall  prove  the  existence  of  God,  previous 
to  and  independent  of  any  particular  manifestation  of  himself — 
might  be  made  with  equal  propriety  of  every  successive  and  every 
conceivable  manifestation  of  himself:  the  end  of  which  is,  that 
in  proving  God's  existence,  we  must  be  deprived  of  all  the  mani- 
festations of  that  existence — that  is,  in  effect,  of  all  the  soinces 
of  knowledge  of  his  existence— until  the  existence  itself  is  first 
proved.  This  is  a  round-about,  and  very  silly  way  to  atheism. 
For  let  it  be  considered,  that  so  far  as  we  are  concerned,  it  is  the 
very  same  thing  to  say,  there  is  no  God  at  all,  as  to  say  God 
has  made  no  manifestation  of  himself  to  us.  And  again,  upon 
the  supposition  of  our  own  intelligent  existence,  which  cannot 
well  be  denied,  it  is  impossible  for  us  to  conceive,  that  God  should 
not  manifest  himself  to  us,  if  he  exists  at  all:  since  we  know 
nothing  more  certainly  than  that  activity  is  an  attribute  of  all 
existence  that  rises  above  the  condition  of  inert  matter ;  and  that 
it  becomes  more  intense,  more  exalted,  and  more  comprehensive, 
with  the  increasing  dignity  and  power  of  the  existence  itself:  so 
that  the  non-manifestation,  to  intelligent  existences,  of  an  in- 
finite, almighty,  and  all-pervading  activity,  is  an  inconceivable 
absurdity.  And  still  further,  upon  the  supposition  of  our  having 
any  certain  knowledge  of  anything  whatever,  which  cannot  well 
be  denied  ;  the  probability  at  once  becomes  violent  in  favor  of 
the  existence,  and  by  consequence  the  manifestation  of  God. 
For  the  most  certain  thing  known  to  us,  is  that  we  do  not  in- 
dividually occupy  the  entire  universe — and  that  exterior  to  our- 
self,  there  is  much  beside,  and  independent  of  us.  It  is  impossi- 
ble, in  the  nature  of  the  case,  for  us  to  know,  that  in  that  uni- 
verse exterior  to  us,  one  of  the  things  may  not  be  God  :  so  that 
the  non-existence  of  God  is  a  proposition,  which,  even  if  it  were 
true,  is  wholly  incapable  of  being  proved.  In  such  a  state  of  the 
question — even  supposing  the  probabilities  to  be  capable  of  being 
exactly  balanced — when  considered  a  priori^  which  is  by  no  means 
the  case — the  very  slightest  presumption  which  could  arise  in 
favor  of  that  which  may  be  proved,  at  once  inclines  the  scale 
against  that  which  in  its  own  nature  cannot  be  proved.  And, 
therefore,  as  there  is  an  utter  impossibility  of  proving  the  non- 
existence of  God,  and  very  many  methods  of  rendering  the  fact 


330  THE   INTEENAL   EVIDENCE   OF   CHRISTIANITY. 

of  his  existence  probable,  there  would,  in  the  case  supposed, 
arise  immediately  the  violent  probability  already  stated.  For  the 
purposes  of  the  present  argument,  therefore,  there  is  manifestly 
no  such  necessity,  as  that  which  is  so  constantly  urged  by  in- 
fidels, and  so  generally  conceded  by  Christians :  a  demand  on  one 
side  and  a  concession  on  the  other,  equally  absurd,  and  in  their 
^result  atheistical.  For  us,  let  it  be  supposed,  there  is  a  God  :— then 
.the  question  would  be,  is  this  his  word?  Or  let  it  be  supposed, 
for  the  moment,  undetermined  whether  there  is  a  God  or  not: — 
then  the  question  would  be  in  such  a  position  that  any  proof  that 
this  is  the  word  of  a  God,  would  in  hke  manner  prove  that  there 
must  be  a  God.  Either  way,  the  question  remains  the  same — do 
these  Scriptures  commend  themselves  to  us  as  a  revelation  from 
an  infinite,  eternal,  and  unchangeable  being?  If  they  do  not, 
there  may  still  be  such  a  being.  If  the}?^  do,  there  must,  of  neces- 
sity, so  far  as  we  are  concerned,  be  such  a  being. 

2.  Upon  the  supposition  that  there  is  any  God  at  all,  there  is  no 
antecedent  improbability  that  he  would  make  a  revelation  of  him- 
self to  his  rational  creatures.  On  the  contrary,  as  every  manifes- 
tation of  himself  is  in  some  sort  a  revelation  of  himself,  and  it 
has  already  been  shown  that  it  is  inconceivable  that  he  and 
intelligent  creatures  should  exist  together  without  his  making 
manifestations  of  himself  to  them  ;  the  question  would  naturally 
be,  rather  as  to  the  manner  and  extent,  than  the  fact  of  a  divine 
revelation,  taking  the  word  in  its  largest  sense.  In  that  sense  nat- 
ural religion,  as  it  is  conceived  of  even  by  those  who  reject  revealed 
religion,  is  an  exalted  revelation  of  God.  But  when  we  consider 
the  weakness  and  blindness  of  our  faculties,  and  the  deadness  of 
our  moral  perceptions,  in  our  present  condition,  estimating  that 
condition  alike  by  the  general  history  of  our  race,  and  the  inward 
experience  of  each  individual  person  ;  it  is,  perhaps,  more  rational 
to  conclude  that  the  great  truths  and  the  profound  ideas  with 
which  natural  religion  furnishes  us,  are  more  probably  the  grand 
outlines  which  the  race  has  preserved  of  an  outward  and  primeval 
revelation,  than  the  discoveries  we  have  made  of  God,  in  any 
subordinate  manner,  by  means  of  any  other  kind  of  manifestation 
of  himself.  If  to  this  we  add  the  extraordinary  depth  and  power 
of  our  religious  nature,  even  in  its  most  perverted  state — and  the 
longing  after  God, — even  false  gods — which  constitutes  the  most 
distinctive  peculiarity  of  man ;  we  cannot  easily  suppose  that 
great  violence  is  done  to  the  character  of  God  by  presuming  that 


THE   INTERNAL   EVIDENCE   OF   CHRISTIANITY.  331 

just  in  such  a  state  of  case,  there  is  an  infinite  probability  that 
he  both  could  and  would  speak  words  of  instruction,  and  warning, 
and  comfort  to  his  children — erring",  and  yet  striving  to  know 
him.  Moreover,  we  are  to  remember,  that  even  upon  the  suppo- 
sition of  atheism,  we  are  not  delivered  from  the  violent  proba- 
bility of  existing  ia  a  future  state,  and  the  certainty  that  so  exist- 
ing we  may  be  eternally  degraded  and  miserable.  For  atheism *^ 
being  supposed,  it  is  n'evertheless  certain  that  we  exist  here — 
though  no  God  exists ;  and  it  is  equall}-  certain,  that  our  race, 
taken  as  a  whole,  is  both  degraded  and  miserable — we  ourselves 
being  judges.  It  is,  therefore,  not  only  impossible  to  show  that 
we  will  not  exist  hereafter,  but  it  is  infinitely  probable  that  we 
shall — whether  there  is  any  God  or  not ;  and  it  is,  also,  absolutely 
certain,  that  so  existing,  we  may  be  eternally  undone.  Seeing 
all  this  to  be  so — if  we  will  now  suppose  that  there  is  a  God — an 
immense  probability  immediately  arises,  that  he  cannot  look  with 
indifference  upon  such  a  posture  of  afl^airs.  If  we  pass  into  the 
domain  of  the  great  truths  of  natural  religion,  the  presumplion  be- 
comes overpowering.  And  after  we  have  possessed  ourselves  of  such 
ideas  of  God,  of  ourselves,  and  of  all  things  relating  both  to  him  and 
to  ourselves,  as  the  Bible  delivers  to  us — it  being,  for  this  argument, 
perfectly  immaterial  where  the  Bible  got  those  ideas ;  the  human 
mind  cannot  well  resist  the  conviction,  that  such  a  God,  in  such  a 
contingency,  will  interpose  effectually.  I  presume,  it  will  hardly 
be  denied,  that  a  perfect  and  permanent  revelation  is  a  possible, 
and  might  be  an  effectual  mode  of  interposition.  It  is  that  mode 
which  purports  to  have  been  adopted  :  it  is  that  which— to  say 
no  more,  the  human  mind  has  rested  on — as  not  only  probable, 
but  actual.  From  that  point  of  view,  this  is  the  highest  testi- 
mony which  is  capable  of  being  given.  It  is  the  testimony  of 
human  reason — I  may  add  of  human  nature — to  the  antecedent 
probability  of  a  divine  revelation. 

3.  Let  us  approach  more  nearly  to  this  wondrous  book,  and 
observe  in  a  somewhat  general  way  what  its  effects  upon  the 
human  race  have  been,  and  what  it  is  in  itself  It  has  made  the 
circuit  of  the  world.  Human  society,  in  every  stage  of  develop- 
ment, under  every  form  of  administration,  and  composed  of  every 
race  of  men,  has  been  exhibited  to  us,  with  and  without  the 
knowledge  which  this  book  imparts,  with  and  without  the  influ- 
ence it  exerts.  The  results  which  have  been  reached  on  the  one 
hand  and  on  the  other, involve  the  entire  mass  of  human  experi- 


832  THE   IN'^EIl^'■AL   evidence   of   CnniSTIANITY. 

ence.  From  the  depths  of  an  unknown  antiquity  its  strange  ac- 
cents become  audible  to  man  ;  and  along  the  entire  course  of  all 
the  generations  as  they  pass,  those  accents  have  never  been  husheds 
As  an  element  in  the  destiny  of  man,  nothing  else  is  more  capable 
of  being  estimated.  Undeniably  the  influence  it  has  exerted  has 
been  immense,  and  most  beneficent.  Undeniably  that  influence 
has  been  immense  and  beneficent,  in  proportion  as  it  has  been 
simple,  absolute  and  undisturbed.  The  institutions  of  Moses  have 
more  deeply  impressed  the  human  race,  than  all  other  institutions 
except  those  of  Christ ;  and  the  doctrine  and  precepts  which  Moses 
an  the  servant,  and  Christ  as  the  Son  of  God,  have  delivered  to 
men,  are  beyond  all  doubt  the  most  efficacious  and  the  most  benign 
inheritance  which  man  has  received.  Peace  and  freedom,  and 
knowledge  and  civilization,  have  flourished  the  most  under  the 
shadow  of  those  institutions ;  and  all  that  is  true,  and  beautiful, 
and  good  has  sprung  up  the  most  profusely  with  that  doctrine  and 
those  precepts.  This  day,  after  a  struggle  so  protracted  and  so 
vehement — if  we  will  estimate  the  results  of  so  many  centuries 
and  60  many  conflicts,  in  their  broadest  aspect,  we  shall  behold 
these  marvellous  oracles  sustaining  and  adorning  every  institution 
and  every  attainment  that  blesses  the  earth  most  richly ;  we  shall 
find  them  affording  the  chief  solace  to  man  under  all  that  crushes 
and  degrades  him ;  and  we  shall  see  them  utterly  banished  or 
utterly  perverted,  only  where  man  has  lost  all  hope,  or  is  strug- 
gling with  despair.  This  is  the  great  conclusion  ;  and  it  is  one 
which  cannot  be  overlooked  in  any  discussion  of  the  origin  and 
authority  of  this  book.  But  if  we  will  consider  more  particularly 
certain  remarkable  details,  the  light  thrown  upon  the  present  argu- 
ment will  appear  only  the  more  surprising.  As,  one  by  one,  the 
portions  of  this  volume  were  bestowed  upon  man,  each  in  its  turn 
was  efficacious  to  produce  the  particular  effect  intended  by  it ; — 
and  then  capable,  also,  of  entering  into  the  general  mass  that 
went  before  or  that  followed  after,  and  of  uniting  with  it  in  the 
production  of  new  and  more  general  effects ;  and  this  process, 
everywhere  else  unprecedented,  was  enacted  very  many  times, 
through  very  many  centuries.  Again,  as  each  part  was  added, 
the  clearness,  the  abundance,  and  the  overwhelming  force  of  the 
external  evidence,  with  which  it  was  marshalled  in  its  progress 
from  heaven,  bore  a  remarkable  proportion  to  the  amount  of  the 
lively  oracles  already  existing ;  that  evidence  being  immense  in 
proportion  as  the  portions  of  the  Bible  existing  were  few,  and 


THE   INTERNAL   EVIDENCE   OF   CHRISTIANITY.  833 

gradually  diminishing  as  the  portions  gradually  accumulated ; 
until  the  whole  was  complete,  and  extraordinary  manifestations 
of  God  almost  ceased  with  the  last  revelation  from  God.  More 
than  that,  they  who  received  these  communications  from  God, 
with  simple  faith,  as  they  were  successively  bestowed  on  them, 
found  the  smallest  portions  of  them  sufficient  as  a  means  of  grace 
and  salvation,  while  no  more  existed  for  them :  but  when  the 
whole  had  been  completed,  and  the  very  uttermost  part  had  been 
bestowed  on  them,  who  had  received  all  the  rest,  and  had  found 
the  smallest  part  sufficient — that  glorious  whole,  became  forthwith 
a  sealed  book  in  the  matter  of  grace  and  salvation  to  those  who 
rejected  and  crucified  the  giver  of  it  all !  Thus  in  the  very  mode 
of  its  production  we  are  warned,  that  these  very  internal  evi- 
dences which  we  seek,  are  for  us,  the  grand  and  enduring  proof; 
and  that  there  is  a  power  connected  in  some  mysterious  manner 
with  the  oracle  itself,  which  being  found  gives  vitahty  to  all,  or 
being  lost  leaves  behind  only  such  influences  as  belong  to  the 
truth  of  itself 

4.  As  we  enter  somewhat  more  into  the  contents  of  the  Scrip- 
tures, seeking  for  proof  of  their  origin,  we  arc  struck  at  once  with 
the  miraculous  character  of  the  pretensions  everywhere  set  up 
throughout  the  whole  volume,  and  the  multiplied  forms  in  which 
a  divine  power  is  claimed  to  be  exercised.  There  is  one  aspect  in 
which  this  whole  department  of  proof  constitutes  the  subject  of 
another  lecture.  The  reality  of  the  working  of  miracles,  as  a  fact 
historically  proved,  together  with  the  significance  of  that  fact,  and 
its  conclusive  value  in  establishing  the  divine  mission  of  those 
who  performed  them,  and  by  consequence,  the  divine  truth  of 
their  message.  All  that  falls  into  another  discourse.  But  there 
is  another  aspect  of  the  subject  which  appertains  to  this  argument. 
Upon  the  supposition,  that  a  divine  revelation  is  made,  the  most 
obvious  proof  of  the  divine  mission  of  him  who  makes  it  is,  that 
he  should  work  miracles;  as,  indeed,  the  Scripture  declares  that 
•'  signs  and  wonders  and  mighty  deeds"  are  the  appropriate  evi- 
dence of  a  messenger  from  God.  Now  what  we  have  to  notice  is-, 
how  from  the  beginning,  this  great  necessity  is  silently  accepted 
by  the  writers  of  holy  Scripture — and  how  abounding  is  the  proof 
thus  furnished  by  them,  that,  of  a  truth,  God  was  with  them — 
with  them,  too,  in  this  divine  plenitude,  not  merely  as  using  this 
miraculous  power  as  a  general  proof,  but  in  the  very  method  of 
its  use,  illustrating  as  well  the  nature  and   oliject  as  (he  reality 


S84  THE   INTERNAL   EVIDENCE   OF   CHRISTIANITY. 

of  their  mission.  So  remarkable  and  so  comprehensive  is  this 
miraculous  method,  that  every  attribute  of  God.  and  every  one 
of  his  revealed  purposes,  and  multitudes  of  the  most  precious 
truths  taught  to  us,  might  be  set  in  a  clear  light,  and  distinctly 
enforced  by  the  miracles  recorded  in  his  holy  word  ;  so  that  be- 
sides their  value  as  divine  interpositions  for  a  collateral  but  fun- 
damental end,  they  constitute  besides,  a  full  revelation  of  himself. 
And  again,  a  careful  consideration  will  show,  that  all  the  miracles 
recorded  in  the  Scriptures  have  a  general  bearing  upon  the  great 
scope  of  the  Scriptures  themselves,  and  are  in  unison  with  the  grand 
conception  running  through  them  all.  They  are  all  miracles  sub- 
ordinate to  one  stupendous  miracle,  most  glorious  of  all— the  mir- 
acle of  God  incarnate  to  save  sinners  !  And  in  this  manner  they 
constitute  a  divine  and  perpetual  commentary  upon  the  plan  of 
salvation.  Now  upon  the  supposition  of  no  God,  and  by  conse- 
quence no  revelation,  I  would  fain  know  how  these  glorious  ideas, 
in  this  exalted  concatenation,  and  marvellous  fulness  and  famil- 
iarity, get  into  the  minds  of  these  particular  men,  and  no  other 
men  in  the  universe?  And  upon  the  supposition  of  a  God,  and 
an  attempt  to  test  the  claims  of  a  supposed  revelation  upon  its 
own  subject  matter,  I  would  fain  know  how  such  things  are  pos- 
sible to  a  succession  of  minds  left  to  their  ordinary  operations? 

5.  Next,  perhaps,  to  what  has  just  been  suggested,  the  most 
obvious  peculiarity  of  the  Bible  is  the  confident  claim  of  its  wri- 
ters to  the  possession  of  prophetic  knowledge.  This  subject,  in 
the  fundamental  nature  of  it,  constitutes,  like  the  subject  of  mir- 
acles, the  field  of  a  separate  lecture  in  this  course;  that  is,  the 
demonstration  of  the  fact,  that  the  Scriptures  abound  with  true 
prophecies,  and  the  illustration  and  significance  and  value  of 
that  fact,  in  establishing  their  divine  origin.  In  their  most  gen- 
eral bearing  even,  the  argument  from  miracles,  and  that  from 
prophecy,  belong  to  the  general  subject  of  internal  evidence  ;  but 
their  full  and  separate  treatment,  precludes  the  propriety  in  rela- 
tion to  the  latter,  as  I  have  before  stated  in  regard  to  the  former, 
of  anything  more  than  an  incidental  notice  here.  Considered  in 
this  manner,  the  whole  subject  of  prophecy  as  it  presents  itself 
throughout  the  Scriptures,  and  as  it  is  interwoven  with  almost 
every  portion  of  them,  gives  to  them  a  character  most  striking 
and  exalted.  As  it  is  impossible  for  us  to  conceive  how  the  future 
can  develop  itself  before  our  unaided  faculties  in  a  manner  simi- 
lar  to  that  in  which  the  past  is  present  to  our  minds ;  so  it  is 


THE   INTERNAL   EVIDENCE   OP  CHRISTIANITY.  335 

equally  inconceivable  how  we  could  entirely  conceal  the  past  as 
the  whole  future  is  concealed,  so  as  to  exhibit  the  same  ignorance 
of  all  we  do  know,  as  of  all  we  do  not  know.  But  the  cognitions 
of  God,  as  to  all  the  future  and  all  the  past,  are  precisely  of  the 
same  nature.  And,  therefore,  while  that  fact  establishes  his  om- 
niscience, and  by  consequence  his  Godhead,  it  renders  it  incon- 
ceivable to  us,  that  he  should  converse  freely  and  familiarly  with 
us,  and  not  exhibit,  in  general,  the  same  familiarity  with  all  the 
future,  as  with  all  the  past.  As  far  as  we  can  comprehend,  this 
is  one  of  the  exigencies  of  an  extended  revelation  from  God — one 
of  its  absolute  conditions.  And  we  find  the  writers  of  the  Bible 
accepting  in  its  fulness  this  controlling  truth  ;  and  the  inherent 
power  of  it  is  exhibited  throughout  its  pages.  Not  to  insist  only 
on  their  express  prophecies,  of  which  the  number  is  so  great,  and 
the  character  so  remarkable,  all  that  they  say,  and  all  that  they 
do,  is  said  and  done  as  fully  in  the  sense  of  what  is  to  come  aa 
in  the  sense  of  what  is  already  gone.  It  is  to  be  observed,  at  the 
same  time,  that  all  this  sublime  familiarity  with  all  that  is  in  pro-' 
found  darkness  to  the  most  exalted  human  intelligence,  is  exhib- 
ited in  such  a  manner  as  neither  to  take  away  the  contingency  of 
second  causes,  nor  to  interfere  with  the  freedom  of  human  actions,, 
nor  to  put  it  in  the  power  of  devils  or  wicked  men  to  defeat  what  is 
declared  beforehand,  nor  to  diminish  tiie  grounds  or  the  necessity 
of  a  perpetual  faith  on  the  part  of  the  children  of  God.  And  we 
must  add,  that  the  whole  compass  of  this  prophetic  intelligence, 
which  pervades  the  Scriptures,  whether  it  manifests  itself  in  direct 
predictions,  or  whether  it  animates  the  types,  and  symbols,  and 
ceremonies,  or  whether  it  impregnates  the  general  current  of  the 
divine  word,  all  terminates  in  the  same  ruling  conception  and  all 
struggles  towards  the  same  infinite  object.  Salvation  for  lost  sin- 
ners, and  the  person,  the  work,  and  the  glory  of  their  divine  Re- 
deemer— these  are  the  ideas  which  control  all  the  rest.  Surely,  in 
the  general  compass  and  intimate  structure  of  the  Scriptures,  con-' 
sidered  from  this  point  of  view,  there  is  a  depth  of  knowledge  of 
that  which  man  knows  not,  and  there  is  an  awful  skill  in  the 
manner  of  its  use,  and  there  is,  at  once,  an  infinite  breadth  and 
an  intense  concentration  of  superhuman  conceptions  to  a  super- 
human end,  the  whole  of  which  is  utterly  beyond  anything  of  ' 
which  we  feel  ourselves  to  be  capable.  It  is  the  high  and  fair,  as 
well  as  the  irresistible  conclusion  of  human  reason,  that  this  isi 
not  our  work. 


336  THE   INTERNAL   EVIDENCE   OF   CHRISTIANITY. 

6.  There  is  another  and  a  distinct  mode  in  which  the  vast  in- 
telligence which  pervades  the  Bible  is  so  manifested,  that  from 
the  successive  points  reached  by  the  human  race,  it  may  be  sub- 
jected to  an  estimate  more  and  more  rigorous.  What  is  here 
alluded  to  will  be  clearly  perceived  from  this  statement,  namely, 
that  the  general  tenor  of  the  Bible,  as  well  as  all  its  special  asser- 
tions, exactly  accord  with  what  the  profoundest  learning  shows 
to  be  the  actual  state  of  the  universe,  as  well  as  with  what  the 
deepest  and  largest  experience  establishes,  as  the  actual  course 
of  nature.  The  sum  of  all  human  experience  as  to  the  results 
of  all  human  conduct,  may  be  found  better  expressed  in  many 
of  the  earliest  portions  of  this  book,  than  we  are  able  to  express 
them  now,  after  so  many  additional  centuries  of  progress  and 
observation  ;  and  the  results  of  all  knowledge,  in  every  depart- 
ment of  our  researches  into  the  state  of  the  universe,  are  assumed 
as  already  clear  and  known,  thousands  of  years  before  our  re- 
searches commenced.  Whoever  wrote  this  book,  knew  more 
than  we  know  now  on  these  mysterious  subjects,  and  knew  it  dis- 
tinctly, when  we  knew  nothing.  And  they  have  used  their 
surprising  knowledge  in  such  a  manner,  that  we  are  only  able  to 
perceive  they  had  it,  as  we  ourselves  gradually  attain  some  in- 
sight into  the  same  vast  subjects ;  and  they  have  uttered  it  in 
that  form  which  seems  to  imply  continually,  and  which  indeed 
very  often  openly  declares,  that  it  is  not  their  personal  cognitions 
which  they  are  uttering,  but  the  intimations  of  a  divine  intelli- 
gence, the  whole  extent  of  which  is  not  comprehended  by  them- 
selves. All  this  is  infinitely  remarkable.  And  yet  it  will  be  most 
deeply  felt  to  be  true  by  those  who  are  the  most  conversant  with 
the  progress  of  human  knowledge,  taken  in  its  very  widest  sense. 
In  the  whole  circle  of  the  sciences,  every  department  of  human 
investigation,  in  its  first  stages,  has  been  alleged  to  contain  posi- 
tive evidence  of  the  mistakes  or  misstatements  of  the  Bible ;  and 
the  instances  are  not  rare,  in  which  this  precocious  rejoicing 
against  the  truth,  has  been  met  by  unhappy  attempts  on  the  part 
of  the  friends  of  God's  word,  to  make  it  accord  with  the  false 
teachings  of  infidel  and  pretentious  philosophy.  In  the  end, 
when  patient  research  had  elicited  the  whole  truth,  and  calm 
reason  had  reduced  all  the  results  to  their  true  order  and  value, 
the  ignorant  infidel  was  found  to  have  perverted  nature,  and  the 
ignorant  Christian  to  have  misconstrued  God  ;  and  without  one 
single  exception,  the  final  and  perfect  conclusion  has  been  to  con- 


THE   INTERNAL   EVIDENCE   OF   CHRISTIANITY.  SBi 

firm  and  exalt  the  all-pervatling  intelligence  of  the  written  word  ! 
^How  wild  would  be  the  scream  of  the  infidel  philosophers,  if,  from 
the  whole  sum  of  human  experience,  or  the  whole  range  of 
human  investigation,  they  could  extort  one  clear,  established, 
and  deliberate  contradiction  of  these  strange  oracles,  which  have 
come  down  to  us  from  the  remotest,  and,  as  they  would  have  us 
believe,  amongst  the  least  enlightened  ages ! — Now  it  has  been 
held  that  the  adaptation  of  man  to  the  universe  in  which  he 
dwells,  and  of  which  he  forms  so  small  a  part,  is  so  exact  and 
astonishing,  as  to  afford  a  powerful  argument  for  the  being  of 
God  ;  and  this  is  conceded  by  most  of  those  who  reject  the  Scrip- 
'tures.  But  it  appears  to  me,  that  the  same  argument  assumes 
its  most  powerful  and  comprehensive  form,  when  it  shows,  as  it 
easily  can,  that  the  adaptation  of  the  Bible,  in  the  general  sense 
herein  signified,  both  to  man  and  to  the  universe,  is  far  more  pre- 
cise and  complete,  than  the  adaptation  of  man  and  the  universe 
to  each  other. 

7.  There  is  one  more  suggestion,  founded  upon  the  general 
consideration  of  the  contents  of  the  Bible,  too  important  to  be 
omitted.  The  fact  that  there  is  a  divine  superintendence  over 
all  human  affairs,  and  that  this  superintendence  is  infinite  in  its 
power  and  moral  in  its  character,  is  one  of  those  universal  be- 
liefs of  the  human  race,  which,  like  the  belief  in  the  mere  exist- 
ence of  God,  seems  almost  as  natural  to  man,  as  his  physical,  his 
rational,  or  his  moral  conformation.  There  is  no  great  difficult}' 
in  deducing  this  belief  in  a  clear  and  rational  manner,  as  one  of 
the  necessary  and  ultimate  truths,  of  what  is  called  natural  re- 
ligion;  and  this  has  been  commonly  done,  even  by  those  who 
had  not  the  advantage  of  a  divine  revelation,  or  who  rejected  it. 
Now  the  suggestion  here  is  this,  namely,  that  the  silent  but 
sublime  order,  movement,  and  control  of  all  things,  which  we 
observe,  which  we  believe  in,  and  which  we  call  providence,  per- 
fectly accords,  both  as  to  its  reality  and  its  course,  with  the  state- 
ments and  the  principles  of  the  Word  of  God,  in  which  its  cause, 
its  development  and  its  end,  are  perfectly  explained.  The  moral 
government  of  the  world,  as  exhibited  in  the  whole  course  of 
history,  and  as  stated  in  the  Scriptures,  appears  to  be  preciselj' 
identical.  God's  providence  and  his  word  set  forth  precisely  the 
same  system  of  things.  Those  eternal  truths  which  underlie  his 
providence,  are  fully  expounded  only  in  his  word.  Those  prin- 
ciples of  government  which  control  the  one,  are  explained  in   the 

22 


388  THE   INTERNAL   EVIDENCE   OF   CHRISTIANITY. 

Other.  The  same  difficulties,  the  same  exceptioas,  belong  to 
both.  The  same  remedies  are  resorted  to  in  both.  The  same 
progress,  the  same  development,  occur  in  both.  Now,  however 
simple  and  universal  may  be  the  belief  in  this  providence,  it  is 
only  after  long  and  large  observation  that  we  are  able  to  deduce, 
from  innumerable  examples,  scattered  over  many  ages,  and  ex- 
hibiting the  most  multiplied  conditions,  the  general  laws  which 
regulate  its  course.  This  is  the  real  difficulty ;  and  its  solution 
involves  the  whole  mass  of  human  experience,  and  all  the  powers 
of  human  reason.  In  attempting  this,  we  stand  upon  an  eleva- 
tion from  which  we  look  back  upon  the  entire  course  of  human 
events,  and  with  the  entire  labors  of  the  human  mind  poured  out 
to  aid  us :  and  after  all  we  succeed  but  doubtfully  in  our  task. 
Then  we  turn  to  these  oracles,  and  we  find  men  in  the  earliest 
ages  of  the  world — without  any  of  those  helps  which  constitute 
the  greater  part  of  our  strength — uttering  our  profoundest  conclu- 
sions, as  simple  verities,  most  familiar  to  them  ; — clearing  up  our 
doubts  and  difficulties,  and  correcting  our  errors,  even  without 
an  effort ;  and  explaining  to  us,  not  only  the  facts  whose  signifi- 
cance was  often  so  obscure,  and  the  nature  of  those  laws  whose 
very  existence  it  had  cost  us  so  much  to  establish,  but  also  the 
grand  system  and  design,  into  which  these  facts  and  laws  enter  as 
means  to  an  end.  They  look  forward,  thousands  of  years,  and 
see  most  clearly,  what  we  can  only  perceive  most  dimly,  as  we 
look  back  over  the  same  track  of  time.  And  what  they  see  so 
clearly,  and  we  so  dimly,  are  things,  which  so  far  as  we  can  com- 
prehend, we  could  not  have  seen  at  all,  if  we  had  been  placed  at 
the  beginning,  instead  of  the  end,  of  those  long  ages,  whose 
events  are  the  very  elements  of  all  our  conclusions.  The  only 
possible  explanation  seems  to  be  the  one  which  they  constantly 
offer  to  us.  Their  miraculous  power,  their  prophetic  knowledge, 
their  vast  intelligence  touching  the  condition  of  the  universe,  and 
now  their  profound  acquaintance  with  the  principles  of  its  moral 
administration ;  all— all  is  divine.  They  spake  as  they  were 
moved  by  the  Holy  Ghost.     This  explains  all. 

8.  If  we  enter  now  somewhat  more  into  particulars,  we  shall 
find  this  volume  to  consist  of  sixty-six  separate  books,  one  of 
which  (the  book  of  Psalms)  contains  no  less  than  one  hundred 
and  fifty  distinct  compositions ;  and,  probably,  if  we  were  to  ana- 
lyze the  contents  of  the  entire  volume,  we  should  find  that  it  con- 
tains many  hundreds  of  perfectly  distinct  and  separate  treatises, 


THE   INTERNAL   EVIDENCE   OF   CHRISTIANITY.  339 

having  no  other  connection  with  each  other  than  that  they  treat 
of  the  same  general  ntiatters,  or  were  composed  by  the  same  per- 
sons. These  various  compositions  occupied  a  period  of  fifteen  or 
sixteen  centuries  in  their  production;  and  profess  to  cover,  histori- 
cally and  prophetically,  the  whole  period  of  man's  existence  upon 
this  earth.  They  embrace  every  kind  of  writing,  every  sort  of 
information,  and  every  imaginable  subject.  History,  government, 
laws,  institutions,  manners,  customs,  opinions,  education,  morals, 
religion,  philosophy,  discourses  of  every  description,  poetry  in  all 
its  departments,  biography,  epistolary  correspondence,  everything 
from  the  most  famihar  discourse  up  to  the  most  abstract  and  sub- 
lime meditations ;  the  whole  circle  of  the  sciences  furnishes  noth- 
ing that  is  not  alluded  to — the  utmost  compass  of  human  society 
and  human  interests  exhibits  nothing  that  is  not  in  some  way 
brought  to  notice,  and  every  aspect  under  which  human  nature 
has  ever  presented  itself  is  distinctly  stated  and  considered.  The 
principal  persons  who  were  engaged  in  the  composition  of  these 
various  treatises,  may,  perhaps,  be  stated  at  about  thirty ;  but  the 
number  would  be  greatly  increased  by  additig  all  who  produced 
portions  embraced  now  under  more  general  divisions.  These 
authors  were  from  every  rank  in  life.  Dictators,  kings,  rulers  in 
a  free  commonwealth,  judges,  magistrates,  lawgivers,  generals, 
priests,  private  citizens,  scholars,  artisans,  farmers,  shepherds, 
soldiers,  fishermen,  tax-gatherers ;  and  they  appear  to  have  been 
persons  of  every  sort  of  temperament  from  the  most  gentle  to 
the  most  perverse,  and  of  every  sort  of  endowment  from  the  most 
exalted  to  the  most  unpretending,  and  of  every  time  of  life  from 
earliest  manhood  to  extreme  old  age,  and  of  every  grade  of  at- 
tainment from  unlettered  simplicity  to  boundless  knowledge,  and 
of  every  condition  from  the  deepest  wretchedness  up  to  the  most 
consummate  human  felicity.  Yet  all  these  men,  through  all  these 
centuries,  treating  of  all  these  subjects,  so  wrote,  that  although 
they  have  been  subjected  to  the  fiercest  scrutiny  during  more  than 
seventeen  centuries  since  the  last  of  them  died,  it  has  been  found 
impossible  to  detect  the  smallest  solecism  in  the  entire  productions 
of  all  of  theii  put  together,  or  the  smallest  discrepancy  of  fact,  of 
principle,  or  even  of  opinion  of  any  one  of  them  from  any  other 
throughout  their  voluminous  writings.  Every  one  agrees  in  all 
things  with  every  one  of  the  rest.  Still  more,  every  one  agrees 
with  all  that  has  since  been  discovered  of  the  condition  of  the 
universe,  of  the  course  of  nature,  and  of  the  order  of  Providence. 


3-10  THE    INTERNAL   EVIDENCE    DF   CHRISTIANITY. 

And  further  still,  every  one  seems  to  have  been  endowed  with 
those  sublime  gifts,  that  awful  intelligence,  and  that  superhuman 
insight,  which  are  fully  expressed  by  saying  they  were  inspired, 
and  which  are  utterly  incomprehensible  if  they  were  not.  It  may 
be  said  without  hesitation,  that  if  any  one  of  the  more  extended 
treatises  which  compose  the  Bible,  had  existed  alone,  and  had  not 
claimed  to  be  divine,  it  would  have  immortalized  any  age  or  race 
that  produced  it.  And  it  is  absolutely  certain,  that  if  the  whole 
were  now  totally  lost,  the  whole  human  family  combined  could 
not  reproduce  it  if  left  to  themselves. 

9.  Taking  another  step  towards  the  interior  of  our  subject,  we 
find  upon  every  attempt  to  make  ourselves  acquainted  with  the 
contents  of  the  Bible,  a  deeper  and  deeper  impression  that  it  is 
wholly  different  from  all  other  books.  If  we  peruse  any  portion 
of  it,  in  connection  with  any  portion  of  any  other  book,  we  are 
struck  with  something  about  it,  though  we  may  not  be  exactly 
aware  what  it  is,  which  places  it  so  entirely  by  itself,  that  no  part 
of  it  can  be  incorporated  with  any  other  book,  nor  can  any  part 
of  any  other  book  be  incorporated  with  it,  without  our  being  able, 
instantly,  to  perceive  the  vast  difference.  The  more  we  enlarge 
the  compass  of  this  impression,  and  endeavor  to  take  in  the  whole 
spirit  which  pervades  the  Bible,  in  like  manner  as  a  general  spirit 
pervades  every  other  book  ;  the  more  fixed  becomes  our  conviction, 
that  this  is  immeasurably  different  from  everything  else.  All  this 
difference  is  on  the  side  of  the  Bible ;  it  is  a  difference  which  ex- 
alts while  it  isolates  it.  There  is  a  gravity,  a  concentration,  a 
.weight  in  all  its  utterances,  and  at  the  same  time  a  solemnity,  an 
earnestness,  and  a  pathos ;  a  profound  manifestation,  that  he  who 
speaks  has  a  transcendant  right  to  be  heard,  and  that  he  who 
hearkens  has  an  immense  interest  in  giving  heed ;  a  way  of  put- 
ting everything,  a  significance  in  everything  that  is  put,  a  power 
pervading  the  whole  ;  and  as  the  result  of  all,  an  impression  upon 
us,  wholly  different  from  that  produced  by  anything  else ;  and 
which  the  deeper  and  more  habitual  it  becomes,  is  the  more  favor- 
able to  it,  and,  in  all  respects,  the  more  beneficial  to  ourselves.  It 
is  in  the  nature  of  a  kind  of  general  testimony  of  the  human 
soul,  vague,  perhaps,  and  instinctive,  of  its  recognition  of  the  felt 
presence  of  a  divine  intelligence,  not  full)^  comprehended,  but  yet 
really  perceived.  As  we  advance  from  this  wide  view  to  a  more 
intimate,  yet  still  general  consideration,  no  matter  where  we 
begin  or  what  we  take  up,  the  former  impression  is  not  only  sus- 


THE   INTERNAL   EVIDENCE   OF   CHRISTIANITY.  341 

tained,  but  deepened.  If  we  will  carefully  examine  the  cere- 
monial system  of  the  ancient  dispensation,  which,  perhaps,  of  all 
parts  of  the  Bible  men  might  be  inclined  to  consider  the  most 
barren  for  us ;  we  shall  find  a  monument  of  skill  and  power, 
which,  considered  as  a  mere  human  device,  is  wholly  inexplicable. 
If  we  will  consider  the  book  of  Psalms,  what  infidel  critics  tell 
us  it  is,  namely,  only  a  compilation  of  the  religious  odes  of  a  rude 
people ;  it  becomes  at  once  an  incomprehensible  marvel  how 
such  a  people,  using  so  narrow  a  speech,  and  in  compositions  so 
evanescent,  should  have  succeeded  in  combining  the  expression 
of  the  most  abstract  and  exalted  truths  with  the  whole  range  of 
our  religious  emotions,  in  a  manner  which  all  the  rest  of  mankind, 
before  and  since,  have  been  unable  to  approach.  If  we  will  study 
what  we  call  the  Ten  Commandments,  and  reflect  that  the  very 
earliest  lawgiver  of  our  race,  in  the  very  dawn  of  knowledge,  has 
succeeded  in  reducing  to  four  general  propositions  the  summary 
of  all  our  duty  to  God,  and  to  six  others  the  summary  of  all  our 
duty  to  each  other;  and  that  he  has  done  this  in  such  a  manner 
that  both  the  temporal  and  spiritual  interests  of  mankind,  from 
his  day  to  ours,  may  be  exactly  measured  by  their  adherence  to, 
or  their  rejection  of  his  simple  and  sublime  definitions  (not  only, 
—but  so  as,  in  fact,)  in  some  sort  to  exhaust  the  two  most  difficult 
parts  of  knowledge,  namely,  that  which  teaches  us  the  practical 
direction  of  our  own  conduct  and  that  which  regulates  the  public 
administration  of  human  society ; — we  shall  perhaps  not  err  very- 
much  if  we  believe  his  explicit  declaration,  that  it  was  not  he, 
but  God,  who  made  this  summary.  And  if,  passing  from  the  Old 
Testament  into  the  New,  we  study  deeply  the  central  object  of 
that  whole  book — Jesus  of  Nazareth — and  get  an  adequate  idea 
of  his  person,  his  character,  and  his  work  as  set  forth  throughout 
all  the  Scriptures ;  I  do  not  see  but  that  it  is  far  more  rational  to 
admit,  with  all  the  writers  of  the  book,  that  the  entire  conception 
they  all  had  of  the  Son  of  God,  was  divinely  communicated  to 
them,  than  to  suppose  that  any  one  of  them  could  have  originated 
and  developed  such  a  conception,  much  less  that  all  of  them  could 
have  wrought  upon  that  glorious  composition,  each  in  a  manner 
working  out  what  the  rest  had  left  unfinished,  and  that  the  perfect 
work  should  have  been  what  we  now  behold  it.  The  entire  idea 
of  Jesus  of  Nazareth,  taken  as  a  whole,  is  as  much  superhuman 
as  the  alleged  manner  of  his  birth ;  and  the  working  out  of  that  idea 
is  as  miraculous  as  the  incarnation.     The  subject  matter  of  his 


342  THE  INTERNAL   EVIDENCE   OF   CHRISTIANITY. 

instructions,  too,  is  as  great  a  wonder  as  the  mighty  signs  with 
which  he  enforced  them.  Considering  Christ  as  a  mere  man,  and 
remembering  who  and  what  he  was  as  such — the  Lord's  Prayer 
as  a  model  of  all  devotion,  and  the  sermon  on  the  mount  as  a 
model  of  all  discourse,  both  uttered  like  all  his  instructions,  off- 
hand, and  as  the  occasion  arose,  are  infinitely  more  difficult  of 
satisfactory  explanation  than  any  alleged  interposition  of  God,  in 
the  manner,  and  for  the  ends  stated  in  the  Scriptures.  And  the 
very  manner  of  his  instruction  has  in  it  that  which,  as  much  by 
its  unapproachable  difficulties  as  by  its  amazing  power,  stamps  it  as 
superhuman.  Let  any  man  attempt  to  speak  in  parables  ;  nay,  to 
produce  one  single  parable ;  nay,  to  find  one,  out  of  the  Bible,  in  the 
whole  compass  of  human  literature  ;  nay,  to  compare  what  are  so 
called,  in  other  parts  of  the  Bible,  few  as  they  are  even  there,  with 
those  uttered  habitually,  incessantly,  by  Christ.  Those  great,  sim- 
ple, luminous,  and  yet  wholly  inimitable  expositions,  not  of  duties 
merely,  or  mainly  even,  but  of  fundamental,  and  most  generally  of 
before  unknown  or  unregarded  truths,  whose  habitual  use  consti- 
tuted the  distinctive  peculiarity  of  Christ's  manner,  and  was  felt  by 
those  around  him  to  impart  to  it  a  character  and  a  power  altogether 
divine.  Well  and  truly  might  they  say,  "Never  man  spake  like  this 
man."     Clear  and  faithful  was  that  testimony,  "The  Word  was 

„  made  flesh,  and  dwelt  among  us,  and  we  beheld  his  glory,  the  glory 
as  of  the  only  begotten  of  the  Father,  full  of  grace  and  truth." 

10.  The  writers  of  this  volume  contemplated  from  another  point 
of  view,  are  worthy  of  a  most  careful  study.  They  furnish,  in 
their  own  persons,  not  only  the  first,  but  the  most  faithfully  de- 

,)!  veloped  examples,  of  what  the  system  they  have  given  to  us 
really  is,  and  what  it  can  do.  As  this  is  true  of  the  whole  of 
them,  we  may  illustrate  the  point  by  the  example  of  that  class 
of  them,  which  is  the  latest,  and  perhaps  the  most  familiar  to  us 
— the  Apostles  of  the  Lord  Jesus.  Now  it  is  needless  to  urge  that 
these  men  must  have  sincerely  believed  all  they  have  told  us,  to 
be  true,  and  must  have  been  thoroughly  in  earnest  in  all  they 
did  :  because  all  this  if  not  unmistakably  certain  of  itself,  is,  at 
least,  not  often  questioned.  What  I  insist  on  is,  not  only  that  it 
is  infinitely  more  rational  to  receive  the  whole  matter  precisely  as 
they  state  it,  than  to  suppose  they  might  have  been  under  the 
influence  of  some  strange  delusion  ;  but  that,  taking  human 
nature  as  it  is,  there  is  an  utter  impossibility  that  the  state  of 
case  exhibited  by  thera,  ever  should  have  occurred  or  been  so  ex- 


THE   INTERNAL   EVIDENCE   OF   CHRISTIANITY.  343 

hibiled,  except  upon  the  supposition  that  theii  statements  are 
absohitely  true ;  while,  on  the  other  hand,  supposing  them  to  be 
true,  everything  is  not  only  fully  accounted  for,  but  natural,  and 
in  a  manner  inevitable.  It  is  as  inconsistent  with  the  operations 
of  the  human  mind  and  the  exercises  of  the  human  soul,  that  a 
deluded  person  should  speak  and  act  as  they  have  done,  as  it  is 
that  an  open  impostor  should  have  done  so.  The  manner  in 
which  a  man  who  believes  he  is  under  a  divine  influence — but 
really  is  not — speaks  and  acts,  is  as  radically  different  from  that 
in  which  one  speaks  and  acts,  who  really  is  under  such  an  influ- 
ence, as  the  manner  of  one  is  who  merely  pretends  to  speak  and 
act  as  taught  of  God.  Delusion  is  as  distinct  from  reality  as 
imposture  is  ;  and  to  deny  this,  is  not  only  to  outrage  our  own  inti- 
mate perception  of  truth,  and  unsettle  the  foundations  of  knowl- 
edge, but  is,  in  fact,  to  render  atheism  the  only  refuge  from  super- 
stition. On  the  other  hand,  the  possibility  of  a  divine  influence 
upon  the  mind  and  heart  of  man,  is  just  as  supposable  as  the 
possibility  of  a  divine  influence  upon  his  body,  or  upon  any  other 
part  of  the  physical  universe ;  and  the  reality  of  its  occurrence 
is  as  capable  of  being  established,  by  its  own  distinctive  proofs, 
in  the  one  case  as  in  the  other ;  and  the  supposition  of  its  pres- 
ence will  explain  and  establish,  or  will  confute  and  overthrow, 
an  alleged  state  of  facts  in  the  one  case  as  completely  as  in  the 
other ;  for  in  point  of  ultimate  truth  we  know  no  more  about  the 
nature  of  matter  than  of  spirit,  nor  any  more  of  God's  fundamen- 
tal action — whether  direct  or  indirect — with  the  former  than  with 
the  latter.  Taking  the  whole  case  precisely  as  it  stands,  the 
simple  verity  of  the  alleged  facts,  in  the  case  of  any  one  of  the 
Apostles,  is  the  only  supposition  that  does  not  leave  the  whole 
subject  in  appalhng  darkness ;  and,  when  we  add,  one  after  an- 
other, all  the  individual  cases  distinctly  recorded  and  explained 
in  the  Scriptures  as  illustrating  the  nature  and  operation  of  the 
religious  system  therein  revealed,  any  other  supposition  becomes 
transcendently  absurd.  A  succession  of  impostors,  or  a  succes- 
sion of  fanatics  could  neither  be,  nor  do,  nor  say,  after  the  man- 
ner set  forth  in  the  Bible.  The  inward  experience  which  those 
writers  develop,  was  beyond  being  feigned,  nay.  even  beyond 
being  imagined  ;  so  that  its  bare  statement  verifies  its  actual 
occurrence.  The  manner  of  its  occurrence,  as  stated  by  them- 
selves, is  the  only  comprehensible  mode  in  which  it  could  have 
occurred,   and  is  fully  sufficient  to  account  for  it.     The  truth 


M4:  THE   INTERNAL   EVIDENCE   OF   CHRISTIANITY. 

which  regulated  and  sustained  those  wondrous  exercises,  wa« 
wholly  beyond  the  bounds  of  merely  human  knowledge,  and  is 
moreover,  of  itself,  when  known,  wholly  incompetent  to  produce 
such  results  ;  so  that  its  revelation  to  them,  and  its  being  attended 
by  the  power  of  God,  constitute  the  very  heart  of  the  case.  And 
their  own  conduct,  both  before  and  after  God's  alleged  dealings 
with  them  in  a  way  of  enlightening,  regenerating  and  inspiring 
them,  together  with  all  the  other  outward  facts  of  the  whole  case, 
as  made  in  the  Bible,  constitute  one  perpetual  and  illustrious 
commentary  on  the  divine  truth  revealed,  the  divine  Spirit  reveal- 
ing it,  and  the  divine  Saviour  therein  revealed.  The  purest  ami 
wisest  of  mankind  have  sighed  for  the  feeblest  rays  of  that  light, 
which  these  impostors  or  fanatics  poured  forth  so  gloriously  ;  and 
which  they  used,  in  their  mad  profusion,  only  to  establish  a  sys- 
tem, for  which,  in  this  world,  they  suffered  the  loss  of  all  things, 
and  which  reveals  for  the  world  to  come,  nothing  more  certainly, 
than  that  all  their  delusions  will  be  extinguished  in  endless 
night,  and  all  their  impostures  be  visited  with  the  curse  of  God  ! 
It  is  easier  for  an  enlightened  mind  to  reject  the  system  of  the 
universe  explained  to  us  by  philosophers,  and  to  believe,  that  its 
great  laws  so  painfully  discovered  by  them  are  only  preconcep- 
tions of  their  own  minds,  and  its  sublime  order  and  power  so 
clearly  illustrated  by  those  laws,  nothing  more  than  grand  ex- 
hibitions of  some  of  the  possibilities  of  things ;  than  for  a  re- 
newed heart  to  reject  the  system  of  divine  grace,  of  which  the 
Apostles  of  the  Lord  are  the  greatest  and  last  inspired  teachers, 
and  to  believe  that  the  clear  and  precious  truth  they  have  re- 
vealed, is  not  real  in  itself,  divine  in  its  origin,  and  infinite  in  its 
eternal  sanctions. 

11.  We  may  now  consider  the  contents  of  the  Bible  in  a  more 
systematic  manner — especially  as  they  explain  the  actual  con- 
dition of  our  race,  as  they  account  for  it,  and  as  they  propose  a 
remedy  for  it.  They  declare  our  present  estate  to  be  one  both  of 
sin  and  misery ;  an  estate  of  alienation  from  God  and  rebellion 
against  him,  in  which  we  lie  under  his  wrath  and  curse.  They 
add,  that  the  danger  of  our  condition  is  equal  to  its  corruption 
and  its  wretchedness,  and  reveal  in  the  clearest  manner  a  future 
and  endless  state  of  being,  in  which  we  are  exposed  to  infinite 
woe.  According  to  their  teachings,  sin  is  the  original  cause  of 
all  suffering  and  sorrow ;  and  it  is  of  its  very  nature  to  become 
more  and  more  aggravated  continually,  and  therefore  to  produce 


THE  INTERNAL  EVIDENCE  OF  CHRISTIANITY.  345 

greater  and  greater  misery  forever ;  and  it  is  of  the  very  nature 
of  God  to  hate  and  to  punish  all  sin,  precisely  in  proportion  to  its 
demerits — that  is,  in  a  manner  infinitely  just.  But  remarkable  as 
all  this  account  is,  two  particulars  are  added,  if  possible  more  re- 
markable still.  The  first  is,  that  this  was  not  the  original  con- 
dition of  our  race,  but  that  we  were,  created  at  first  in  the  image 
of  God  and  enjoyed  his  favor ;  a  glorious  and  blessed  condition 
which  was  forfeited  and  lost  by  sin.  The  second  is,  that  God  in 
his  infinite  mercy  has  provided  for  us  a  complete  salvation  from 
sin  and  misery,  both  in  this  world  and  the  next,  and  that  it  is  the 
object  of  the  Scriptures  to  bring  to  light  the  life  and  immortality 
oflTered  to  us  in  this  new  form.  In  one  word,  we  have  lost  the 
image  of  God  in  which  we  were  created  ;  we  must  recover  it,  or 
perish  ;  here  is  a  perfect  mode  of  recovery,  revealed  from  heaven. 
I  repeat  that  all  this  is  infinitely  remarkable.  There  is  no  part 
of  it  whose  bare  conception  can  be  accounted  for  so  naturally — if 
indeed  at  all — as  by  admitting  its  simple  verity ;  no  part  of  it 
within  the  reach  of  our  knowledge,  which  the  mere  statement  of 
would  not  show  to  be  false,  if  indeed  it  was  false.  But,  perhaps, 
the  most  remarkable  part  of  the  whole  case  is  that  the  moment 
these  w^onderful  declarations  are  made  known  to  us,  we  perceive 
in  the  facts  they  contain  a  perfect  explanation  of  the  profoundest 
movements  of  our  own  inner  life,  and  a  complete  solution  of  all 
the  moral  phenomena  exhibited  by  our  race.  So  far  as  the  range 
of  our  personal  knowledge  extends,  we  see  ourselves  and  all  men 
to  be  precisely  in  the  condition  which  the  Scriptures  describe ;  yet 
neither  they  nor  we  comprehended  exactl}'^  what  that  condition 
was,  until  the  depths  of  our  own  natures  were  thus  explored  for 
us.  And  beyond  the  range  of  our  absolute  knowledge,  both  in 
the  dim  past  and  the  unknown  future,  these  revelations  of  our 
origin  and  destiny,  these  solemn  accounts  of  our  fall  and  recovery, 
come  to  us  in  a  way  which  accords  with  our  deepest  instincts, 
our  saddest  experience,  our  profoundest  necessities,  our  most 
exalted  aspirations,  and  our  most  ardent  hopes.  We  desire  to  be 
happy,  and  yet  are  miserable.  We  see  the  excellence  and  the 
beauty  of  goodness,  and  yet  hve  in  sin.  We  feel  that  we  were  once 
better  off;  not  always  as  we  now  are ;  not  wilhng  to  be  so 
forever.  Even  while  we  love  and  practice  what  is  evil,  we  feel 
that  our  sins  are  a  burden  and  our  pollution  a  shame  unto  us.  The 
ruins  of  a  better  nature  are  still  visible  in  the  wreck  which  we 
have  become,  and  the  germ  of  a  new  and  glorious  life  seems  stiP 


THE   INTERNAL    EVIDENCE   OF   CHRISTIANITY. 

to  exist  amidst  the  death  which  reigns  within  us.  Though  we 
shun  and  dread  God,  we  sigh  as  we  think  of  his  lost  image. 
Weak,  and  bUnd,  and  impotent,  and  perverse,  and  corrupt  as  we 
are,  there  still  lingers  in  us  a  sense  of  God's  infinite  excellence 
and  God's  infinite  love.  Now  I  am  not  pretending  to  argue  how 
much  of  this,  or  any  of  it,  is  in  us  in  a  state  of  nature  wholly 
destitute  of  all  knowledge  of  a  divine  revelation ;  but  I  am 
arguing  that  the  revelation  we  have  received,  finds  or  makes 
these  impressions  within  us,  to  this  argument  it  is  wholly  im- 
material which,  and  that  they  furnish  the  highest  and  most  con- 
clusive evidence  of  which  the  case  admits,  that  the  revealed  facts 
to  which  they  are  so  strangely  responsive,  are  true.  If  they  are 
true,  there  is  an  end  of  the  argument ;  for  it  is  demonstrably  cer- 
tain their  discovery  and  statement  must  have  been  superhuman. 
And  now  we  must  observe  how  absolute  and  crushing  the  proof 
becomes,  upon  the  admission  that  any  one  single  human  soul 
was  ever  restored,  truly  and  actually,  to  the  lost  image  of  God, 
according  to  that  general  system  revealed  in  the  Bible,  and  which 
purports  to  be  able  thus  to  restore  all  souls.  We  must  absolutely 
deny  that  one  single  case  ever  occurred ;  or  we  must  absolutely 
admit  the  divine  origin  of  the  Scriptures.  One  single  well-defined 
footprint,  on  the  strand  of  a  desolate  continent,  might  prove  that 
a  man  had  been  there,  as  conclusively  as  if  all  the  other  men  in 
the  world  were  to  testify  that  they  saw  him  there.  Nay,  how 
fierce  would  be  the  infidel  joy  and  triumph,  if  the  smallest  frag- 
ment of  a  human  skeleton  could  be  discovered  in  one  of  those 
strata  of  the  earth's  crust,  which  geologists  choose  to  call  pre- 
Adamite? 

12.  We  may  penetrate  still  more  deeply  into  our  own  nature, 
and  into  the  remedy  proposed  for  its  recovery,  in  order  to  perceive 
the  special  relevancy,  as  we  have  already  seen  the  general  agree- 
ment, of  the  one  to  the  other.  The  Scriptures  do  not  intimate 
that  God  proposes  to  create  absolutely,  and  for  the  first  time,  a 
religious  nature  in  us.  On  the  other  hand,  the  deepest,  the  most 
enduring,  and  the  most  pervading  part  of  man's  nature,  even  in 
his  fallen  state,  is  the  religious  part  of  it.  He  will  do  without 
everything,  sooner  than  without  a  religion  ;  his  religious  capabil- 
ities can  be  more  exalted  and  more  perverted  than  all  his  other 
capabilities  combined ;  and  his  whole  history  is  more  impressed 
and  controlled  by  the  development  of  religious  ideas  than  all  others 
united.     A  sense  of  our  dependence  and  of  our  accountability,  is 


THE   INTERNAL   EVIDENCE   OF   CHRISTIANITY.  347 

the  deepest  and  the  most  universal  moral  sentiment  that  finds 
lodgment  in  the  soul  of  man.  Our  capacity  to  perceive  that 
there  exists  in  things,  that  distinction  which  we  express  by  say- 
ing some  are  true  and  some  are  false,  is  the  foundation  of  our 
rational  nature  and  of  our  ability  to  obtain  knowledge ;  while 
our  capacity  to  perceive  that  there  exists  in  things  that  further 
distinction  which  we  express  by  saying  that  some  are  good  and 
some  are  bad,  is  the  foundation  of  our  moral  nature,  and  of  our 
ability  to  obtain  happiness.  Truth,  which  it  is  natural  to  man 
to  perceive,  to  seek,  and  to  love,  is  our  only  guide  and  rule,  in  the 
one  case  and  in  the  other.  In  our  fallen  state,  we  do  not  lose 
our  capacity  to  perceive  that  such  distinctions  really  exist,  for 
then  we  should  be  no  longer  either  rational  or  moral  creatures ; 
but  what  we  lose  is  the  capacity  to  perceive  with  clearness  and 
certainty  what  particular  things  are  true,  and  to  choose  with 
constancy  and  fervor  the  particular  things  that  are  good ;  and 
this  by  reason  of  our  rational  and  moral  nature,  and  especially 
the  latter,  having  become  depraved.  Now  the  whole  plan  of  re- 
covery revealed  in  the  Scriptures,  assumes  as  existing  in  man, 
this  precise  state  of  case,  and  addresses  itself  to  it.  This  is  our 
present  spiritual  condition  as  clearly  exhibited  by  our  researches 
into  our  own  souls,  and  by  our  observation  of  all  other  human 
beings;  and  this  is  the  condition  which  the  Bible  explicitly  de- 
clares to  be  that  for  which  it  has  revealed  a  perfect  remedy.  To 
regenerate  this  fallen  and  depraved  nature,  is  its  great  design. 
Its  grand,  central  idea  is  a  divine  Saviour,  redeeming  a  race  of 
rational,  moral,  dependent,  accountable,  and  alas  !  fallen  and  de- 
praved creatures.  It  declares  our  dependence,  and  points  us  to 
our  creator  and  benefactor.  It  proclaims  our  accountability,  and 
reveals  to  us  our  eternal  lawgiver  and  judge.  It  recognizes  our 
rational  faculties,  and  addresses  to  them  ten  thousand  arguments, 
ten  thousand  proofs.  It  exalts  our  moral  capabilities  and  spreads 
before  us  every  good  and  pure  and  glorious  thing  that  heaven 
itself  can  furnish,  and  every  fearful  evil  that  even  hell  unfolds. 
It  declares  with  intense  precision  all  the  greatness,  and  the  guilti- 
ness of  our  sins,  and  sets  before  us  in  the  divine  Word,  a  perfect 
rule,  at  once,  of  our  duty  and  our  condemnation.  And  then,  in 
the  infinite  grace  of  God,  and  his  infinite  compassion  for  creatures 
at  once  so  ruined,  so  depraved,  and  so  helpless,  and  yet  so 
capacious  of  his  exalted  service  and  his  eternal  enjoyment,  he 
crowns  all   by  the  unspeakable  gift  of  his  only-begotten  Son. 


348  THE   INTERNAL   EVIDENCE  OF  CHRISTIANITY. 

The  grand  pvobleni  of  the  universe,  the  awful  paradox  of  the 
Scriptures  themselves,  God's  hatred  of  sin  and  God's  love  for  sin- 
ners, is  solved  on  Calvary  !  And  men  can  comprehend  all  this, 
and  all  that  is  involved  in  it.  and  believe  that  God  is  not  in  it  all? 
13.  The  exact  manner  in  which  the  Bible  proposes  to  accom- 
plish our  salvation,  to  apply  the  remedy  it  reveals  for  our  recovery, 
personally  to  men,  is  the  next  point  to  which  the  argument  con- 
ducts us,  in  its  inward  movement.  The  general  proposition  of 
the  Scriptures  is,  that  man  is  in  a  fallen  and  ruined  condition,  by 
reason  of  the  introduction  of  sin  into  the  world  :  the  particular 
mode  of  his  ruin  is,  that  he  has  lost  the  image  of  God  in  which 
he  was  created,  and  incurred  all  the  effects  and  consequences  of 
that  loss.  The  most  general  statement  of  the  remedy  proposed 
is,  that  he  must  be  restored  to  the  lost  image  of  God.  In  a  more 
particular  manner  it  is  set  forth,  that  the  infinite  beneficence  of 
God,  is  the  particular  attribute  of  his  nature  that  prompts  the 
whole  divine  movement  to  save  sinners,  and  that  essentially 
pervades  it  all.  The  eternal  love  of  God  the  Father,  is  at  the 
basis  of  our  personal  salvation.  The  incarnation,  obedience  and 
sacrifice  of  the  Son,  are  the  practical  outworking  of  that  divine 
love.  The  Holy  Ghost,  in  his  entire  work  upon  our  hearts,  ac- 
complishes in  us  the  wisdom,  righteousness,  sanclification,  and 
complete  redemption  proclaimed  in  the  Scriptures.  Those  Scrip- 
tures are  the  efficacious  instrumentality  used  by  the  Holy  Ghost 
in  the  entire  work  wrought  in  us.  Summarily,  this  is  the  mode 
of  recovery,  both  in  itself,  and  in  its  application  to  us,  which  these 
Scriptures  proclaim  to  be  divine  in  its  origin  and  its  efficacy. 
Assuredly  it  is  a  remedy  which  involves  in  it,  and  which  makes 
full  account  of,  the  nature  of  man  as  we  know  it  to  be,  and  the 
nature  of  God  as  the  Bible  reveals  that  nature  to  us.  As  far  as 
we  can  comprehend,  we  are  out  of  the  reach  of  any  remedy, 
except  one  which  shall  act  upon  our  rational  and  moral  nature, 
by  means  of  truth.  And  yet  there  is  no  truth  known  to  us,  ex- 
cept in  the  Bible,  that  has  any  tendency  even,  to  recover  us;  and 
the  truth  there  made  known  to  us,  cannot  do  it,  except  as  it  is 
connected  with  the  love  of  the  Father,  the  sacrifice  of  the  Son, 
and  the  work  of  the  Spirit.  This  truth,  and  no  other,  can  do  it : 
and  this  can  do  it,  precisely  in  the  relations  pointed  out  in  the 
Bible,  and  not  otherwise.  And  those  relations  involve  not  only 
God's  purpose,  and  the  mode  of  accomplishing  it,  namely,  the 
exercise  of  his  infinite  beneficence  and  that  through  the  particular 


THE   INTERNAL   EVIDENCE   OF   CHRISTIANITY.  349 

j)laa  of  salvation  revealed :  but  also,  the  very  mode  in  which 
God  exists,  in  an  ineffable  union  of  three  persons,  in  one  divine 
essence,  the  Father,  the  Son,  and  the  Holy  Ghost  uniting  in  the 
infinite  grace  which  saves  sinners,  and  in  the  work  wliereby  that 
is  effected.  Concerning  this  remedy  and  the  mode  of  its  applica- 
tion, the  Scriptures  add  two  associated,  but  very  distinct  proposi- 
tions, upon  both  of  which  they  continually  insist.  The  first  is, 
that  this  is  a  true,  an  efficacious,  and  a  divine  method  of  restor- 
ing fallen  and  depraved  men  to  the  lost  image  of  God.  The 
second  is,  that  there  is  no  other  method  of  doing  this,  that  is 
either  true,  efficacious,  or  divine.  And  upon  these  two  proposi- 
tions they  appeal  to  the  universal  experience  of  the  human  race. 
And  we  accept  the  appeal,  and  hesitate  not  to  pronounce  it  abso- 
lutely conclusive  and  overwhelming.  Whoever  rejects  this  mode 
of  recovery,  no  matter  what  other  mode  he  may  substitute,  proves 
the  universal  truth  of  the  second  proposition,  to  wit,  that  there  is 
no  other  effectual  mode ;  for  he  does  not  recover  the  lost  image 
of  God,  but  remains  in  the  pollution,  and  under  the  curse  of  sin. 
Notiiing  concerning  the  human  race  is  more  indubitable,  than 
that  a  pure  heart  and  a  pure  life  are  not  natural  to  man, 
and  are  not  attainable  by  any  method  ever  attempted  except 
that  revealed  in  the  Word  of  God.  On  the  other  hand,  whoever 
accepts  the  mode  of  recovery  pointed  out  in  that  Word,  estab- 
lishes the  universal  truth  of  the  first  proposition,  to  wit,  that  this 
is  an  effectual  mode,  for  whoever  is  born  again,  is  restored  to  the 
lost  image  of  God,  and  is  pure  in  heart  and  life,  precisely  in  pro- 
portion to  the  simplicity  and  the  fervor  of  his  faith  in  Christ 
Jesus.  And  this  also,  is  the  sum  of  all  human  testimony  that 
bears  upon  the  point :  the  sum  of  all  outward  testimony  to  the 
lives  of  Christ's  true  followers;  the  sum  of  all  the  inward  testi- 
mony of  their  own  hearts.  Unitedly,  the  proof  covers  the  whole 
of  human  experience,  and  establishes — if  that  experience  can 
establish  anything  at  all — that  sinners  must  perish  without  the 
Bible,  but  that,  by  means  of  it,  they  may  be  saved.  Unless, 
therefore,  men  are  both  lost  and  saved,  whether  God  will  or  not, 
which  it  is  mere  folly  as  well  as  blasphemy  to  suppose  ;  the  Bible 
must  be  attended  with  divine  efficiency  and  divine  authority. 

14.  Let  us  carry  this  a  little  deeper.  The  light  which  reveals 
all  things  else,  also  makes  itself  manifest.  He  who  is  blind, 
neither  sees  the  light,  nor  that  which  the  light  reveals.  But  if 
there  were  in  the  light  a  power  to  restore  sight  to  the  blind,  or  if 


350  THE  INTERNAL   EVIDENCE   OF  CHRISTIANITY. 

it  could  be  so  used  as  to  produce  that  effect,  the  bhnd  thus  re- 
stored, could  then  know  that  there  was  light  before  he  saw  it,  and 
that  it  revealed  to  such  as  had  sight  all  that  he  now  beholds. 
Surely  the  Scriptures  teach  with  sufficient  plainness  the  moral 
blindness  of  men  in  their  natural  state ;  and  just  as  plainly  their 
ability  to  see  light  in  the  hght  of  God,  when  he  has  opened  their 
eyes  and  shown  them  wondrous  things  out  of  his  word.  It  is 
scarcely  less  dishonoring  to  Christ,  than  it  is  absurd  in  itself,  for 
us  to  argue  in  such  a  manner  as  to  favor  the  impression,  that  the 
state  of  our  own  minds  and  hearts  has  very  little  to  do  with  the 
effects  which  God's  truth  produces  upon  us.  So  far  otherwise  is 
the  fact,  that  every  divine  truth,  however  it  may  appear  to  the 
natural  man  to  be  foolishness,  is,  to  the  renewed  heart,  not  only 
clear  in  what  it  reveals,  but  clear,  also,  in  that  it  is  itself  revealed. 
Clear  in  that  it  is  revealed  ;  for  Christ's  sheep  know  his  voice  and 
follow  him,  but  the  voice  of  strangers  they  do  not  know.  Clear 
also  as  to  what  is  revealed  ;  for  they  who  obey  the  commandment 
of  God  have  his  express  promise,  that  they  shall  know  the  doc- 
trine whether  it  be  of  him.  Spiritual  discernment  is  as  real  an 
endowment  of  the  new  creature  as  any  other ;  and  a  sense  that 
our  sins  are  pardoned,  may  be  shed  abroad  in  our  hearts,  most 
truly  and  divinely,  and  in  perfect  consonance  with  every  law  of 
our  being.  The  assurance  that  God  is  our  God,  though  grounded 
in  a  different  manner,  may  be  as  well  and  as  thoroughly  grounded 
as  the  assurance  that  our  earthly  father  is  our  father.  Can  a  man 
go  in  and  out,  with  his  parent  or  his  child,  for  years  together,  and 
still  remain  in  doubt  whose  accents  they  are  which  fall  upon  his 
heart,  and  whose  presence  it  is  that  blesses  him?  And  is  there 
nothing  in  the  voice  of  the  Saviour  of  sinners,  and  nothing  in  his 
presence  to  beget  within  us  any  deep  convictions,  any  profound 
assurance?  The  denial  of  unregenerate  men,  that  they  experi- 
ence any  inward  conviction  of  the  divine  truth  of  God's  word,  or 
that  they  see  in  the  blessed  Lord  either  form  or  comeliness,  is 
proof  only  that  the  carnal  heart  is  not  subject  to  the  law  of  God, 
and  that  men  given  over  to  strong  delusion  may  believe  lies,  that 
they  may  be  damned.  Practically,  our  security  against  religious 
error  and  delusion  is  found  to  lie,  not  in  the  superiority  of  our 
faculties,  nor  in  the  extent  or  thoroughness  of  our  general  attain- 
ments even  on  religious  subjects,  but  in  the  soundness  and  vitality 
of  our  faith,  that  is,  in  the  thoroughness  of  our  union  with  Christ ; 
and,  by  consequence,  the  completeness  of  our  restoration  to  the 


THE   INTERNAL   EVIDENCE   OF   CHRISTIANITY,  851 

image  of  God.  How  often  does  the  true  believer  smile  at  infidel 
cavils,  which  once  seemed  to  him  most  formidable,  or  turn  away 
with  pity  or  disgust  from  suggestions  of  unbelief,  which,  however 
powerful  they  may  have  once  appeared,  now  seem  to  be  only 
wicked  or  absurd?  The  inward  process  by  which  such  effects 
are  produced  is  analogous  to  that  which  occurs  to  every  human 
mind  as  it  becomes  deeply  imbued  with  the  truths  of  any  depart- 
ment of  knowledge  :  only  in  the  latter  case  men  are  naturally 
competent  to  begin  and  carry  on  the  work  of  themselves,  while  in 
the  former  they  must  be  subject  to  a  supernatural  change  at  its 
inception,  and  to  a  divine  power  during  its  progress.  Still  an 
analogy  exists.  For  even  by  culture  such  a  change  is  wrought 
in  us,  that  we  perceive  at  once  that  any  new  truth  does  or  does 
not  belong  to  any  part  of  knowledge  with  which  we  are  familiar, 
and  are  able  to  assign  to  it  its  position  and  value.  The  soul 
which  is  renewed  at  all,  is  renewed  by  that  Spirit  which  has  in- 
spired all  revealed  truth;  and  is  renewed  by  the  instrumentality 
of  that  very  truth  so  revealed,  and  which  is  to  constitute  the 
nourishment  of  its  new  life.  Upon  these  conditions,  it  is  impossi- 
ble but  that  the  human  soul  should  find  in  the  Word  of  God  a 
perpetual  and  self-evidencing  light ;  and  that  in  very  near  propor- 
tion to  its  own  deliverance  from  sin.  Taking  our  nature  as  it  is, 
all  this  is  in  exact  accordance  with  what  is  obliged  to  occur  if  the 
Scriptures  be  true.  But  it  is  precisely  what  does  occur,  and  that 
continually,  supposing  that  they  who  say  they  believe  the  Word 
of  God,  tell  the  truth  when  they  say  so.  It  is  inevitable,  there- 
fore, that  the  Scriptures  must  be  true,  or  all  who  say  they  believe 
they  are  true,  must  be  liars.  Which  latter  supposition,  besides 
being  wholly  incredible,  is  incapable  of  being  established,  even  if 
it  were  true,  seeing  that  no  man  can  know  what  passes  in  another's 
heart  better  than  himself, 

15.  Another  step  taken  in  the  same  general  direction  brings  us, 
face  to  face,  with  the  great  question  of  the  testimon)'^  of  the  Holy' 
Ghost,  as  that  question  is  stated  in  the  Scriptures,  and  as  it  is  ex- 
hibited in  the  experience  of  the  human  soul.  Taking  the  argu- 
ment drawn  from  the  declarations  of  God's  word  on  one  hand, 
and  the  inner  life  of  man  on  the  other,  it  exhibits  three  very  dis- 
tinct stages,  at  each  of  which  it  appears  to  be  conclusive;  and  at 
the  close  of  all  three,  overwhelming.  In  the  first  place,  the  Scrip- 
tures represent  to  us  with  the  greatest  precision  the  ac'.ual  state 
of  the  human  soul ;  and  then  call  upon  us  to  examine  ourselves 


•352  THE   INTERNAL   EVIDENCE   CF   CHRISTIANITY. 

carefully  and  habitually,  and  see  if  its  representations  are  not  pie- 
ciseiy  true  :  and  this  is  done  concerning  every  state  of  every  soul, 
from  the  darkest  and  deepest  pollution,  up  through  every  shade  of 
change,  to  that  peace  which  passeth  all  understanding.  NVhat 
we  assert)  is,  that  all  this  is  done  with  invariable  accuracy,  and 
that  the  doing  of  it  involves  a  superhuman  insight  into  the  nature 
and  operations  of  the  human  soul.  In  the  second  place,  they  de- 
clare to  us  the  effects  which  each  particular  divine  truth,  and  also 
the  whole  taken  together,  are  fitted  to  produce,  and  when  received 
into  the  soul,  actually  do  produce  upon  every  one  of  those  infinitely 
varied  states,  and  upon  the  soul  itself  when  in  any  one  of  them. 
And  then,  also,  they  call  upon  us  to  make  trial,  and  see  if  these 
things  are  not  so.  And  as  often  as  we  make  the  trial,  we  find 
that  they  are  so ;  and  that  herein  is  a  superhuman  power,  as  be- 
fore a  superhuman  insight  in  these  divine  oracles,  or  in  some  mys- 
terious way,  along  with  them.  Of  these  two  points,  what  this 
occasion  allowed,  has  been  already  said.  But  there  is  a  third ; 
for  the  Scriptures  plainly  assert  the  existence  and  operation  of  a 
distinct  and  divine  agent,  even  the  Holy  Ghost,  eternally  proceed- 
ing from  the  Father  and  the  Son,  which  Spirit  beareth  witness 
with  our  spirit,  that  we  are  the  children  of  God.  Of  the  three 
that  bear  record  both  in  heaven  and  upon  earth,  we  are  expressly 
assured  that  the  Spirit  is  one.  This  is  the  Spirit  of  life,  by  whose 
work  it  is,  that  spiritual  life  is  imparted  to  us :  the  Spirit  of  truth, 
whose  office  it  is  to  lead  us  into  all  truth  :  the  Holy  Spirit,  who, 
in  the  development  of  that  new  life,  and  through  that  blessed 
truth,  and  by  his  own  divine  light  and  power,  makes  us  Iroly,  and 
thus  fits  us  for  the  service  and  enjoyment  of  God.  Because  we 
are  the  sons  of  God,  he  hath  sent  forth  the  Spirit  of  his  Son  into 
our  hearts.  Sent  forth  as  our  Comforter — his  testimony  is  of 
Jesus  Christ — and  the  crowning  proof  to  us  of  his  glorification  at 
the  right  hand  of  God.  This  is  one  of  the  incontrovertible  points 
of  the  mystery  of  godliness — that  God  who  was  manifest  in  the 
flesh — is  justified  in  the  Spirit.  It  is  he,  by  whose  inspiration  all 
Scripture  was  given — whose  testimony  is  explicitly  of  Jesus  Christ, 
who  is  the  sum  of  all  revelation,  and  whose  finished  work  in  us, 
is  the  very  final  cause  of  our  salvation ; — it  is  he  that  beareth 
witness  with  our  spirits,  that  we  are  the  children  of  God;  children 
of  God  in  his  work — through  that  truth — by  that  Saviour.  Such 
is  the  exalted  height  to  which  the  Scriptures  carry  this  doctrine ; 
and  they  exhort  all  true  believers  to  seek  for,  and  to  cherish  this 


THE   INTERNAL   EVIDENCE   OF   CHRISTIANITY.  858 

earnest  of  our  inheritance,  whereby  we  are  sealed  to  the  day  of 
redemption.  But  for  the  purposes  of  this  argument,  there  is  no 
occasion  to  discuss  the  point  exclusively  at  so  high  a  level.  Ac- 
cording to  the  declarations  of  God,  if  the  Bible  is  his  word,  there 
is  a  true  and  real  sense  in  which  Jesus  Christ  is  the  true  light 
which  lighteth  every  man  that  cometh  into  the  world,  and  in  which 
the  Spirit  of  God  is  poured  out  upon  all  flesh  ;  and  the  testimony 
of  all  Scripture  is,  that  this  hght  of  God  is  not  different  from,  but 
is  coincident  with  the  light  which  shines  in  his  holy  word ;  and 
that  this  Spirit  of  God  is  poured  out,  not  in  disregard,  but  in  con- 
firmation of  that  word  of  life.  Now,  according  to  the  universal 
faith  of  the  church  of  Christ,  every  part  of  the  effectual  calling 
of  his  disciples  is  by  the  Word  and  Spirit  of  God  ; — and  even 
those  who  never  truly  become  his  disciples,  are  subject  to  many 
common  operations  of  the  Spirit  under  the  truth  communicated  to 
them.  But  upon  the  theory  of  the  Bible,  all  these  operations 
thus  produced,  prove  the  glorification  of  Jesus  ; — and,  by  inevitable 
consequence,  the  divine  authority  of  his  mission,  and  the  divine 
truth  of  his  word  !  It  is  the  fact  that  such  an  agent  as  the  Spirit 
bears  any  testimony  whatever  to  the  souls  of  men,  rather  than  the 
particular  character  of  the  testimony  borne  to  each  individual  per- 
son, which,  upon  the  conditions  stated,  makes  the  proof  so  crushing. 
If  there  be  such  a  witness,  and  if  he  testifies  at  all,  it  is  immate- 
rial to  the  argument  whether  the  result  of  his  dealings  with  our 
souls  is  despair  or  peace,  agony  or  glory.  Every  work  of  the 
Spirit,  therefore,  is  a  testimony  to  the  divine  word  ;  and  every  new 
testimony  which  the  Spirit  adds  to  his  own  work  accomplished,  or 
his  own  pleadings  rejected,  is  a  new  proof  accumulated.  When 
we  consider  the  universality  of  the  influences  of  the  Spirit,  general 
and  special,  under  the  gospel  dispensation,  and  the  intimate  nature 
of  the  proof  by  which  their  existence  in  us  is  ascertained,  to  wit, 
our  own  personal  consciousness,  it  is  impossible  to  estimate  the 
magnitude  of  the  folly  and  guilt  which  lead  men  to  persist  in  their 
obstinate  unbelief,  and  their  voluntary  ignorance  of  God. 

16.  There  is  another  view,  wider  perhaps,  if  not  so  intense,  of 
these  revelations  of  God,  which  lies  too  immediately  in  the  general 
course  we  are  taking,  to  be  overlooked.  The  great  truths  which 
are  peculiar  to  the  Bible,  and  which  distinguish  the  system  it  in- 
culcates from  every  other,  are  all  universal  truths,  worthy,  not 
only  of  universal  acceptation,  but  capable  of  universal  applica- 
tion.    The  Jewish  people,  on  the  other  hand,  through  whom  we 

23 


354  THE   INTERNAL    EVIDENCE   OF   CHKISTIANITY. 

have  received  these  truths,  were  the  most  pecuhar  people  that 
ever  existed  as  a  separate  community ;  the  very  last  people  from 
the  midst  of  whom  we  should  expect  to  obtain  a  spiritual  code, 
fitted  for  the  human  race,  and  a  moral  teacher  qualified  in  all 
respects  to  regenerate  mankind.  Yet  out  of  the  bosom  of  this 
people  have  come  the  Bible  and  the  Saviour ;  he,  one  of  them- 
selves ;  it,  their  very  civil  code,  and  the  very  cause  of  all  their 
national  peculiarities.  Yet  he,  and  it,  and  the  salvation  which 
he  wrought  out,  and  it  proclaims,  are  divinely  fitted  to  become, 
and  assuredly  predestinated  to  become,  the  Bible,  the  salvation, 
and  the  Saviour  of  all  the  kindreds  of  the  earth  !  By  a  develop- 
ment as  wonderful  as  it  is  glorious,  each  Jewish  peculiarity  is 
found  to  contain  the  germ  of  some  all-pervading  truth.  From 
the  heart  of  a  system  which  seen  by  itself,  and  considered  as  final, 
seems  to  be  the  narrowest  of  all,  springs  forth  another  system, 
capacious  as  the  race  of  mankind,  and  boundless  as  their  eternal 
being.  The  mode  in  which  the  system  of  the  Old  Testament 
emerges  into  the  system  of  the  New,  is  as  marvellous  as  the  con- 
tents of  either  of  the  two.  To  the  Jew,  the  idea  of  a  brother- 
hood, perfect  but  strictly  Jewish,  expands  for  the  Christian,  into  a 
brotherhood  still  more  tender  and  intimate,  which  embraces  the 
whole  family  of  man.  To  the  Jew,  the  idea  of  a  glorious  God 
ruling  over  men  from  the  very  height  of  heaven,  to  the  Christian 
becomes  the  idea  of  that  same  infinite  God,  made  manifest  in  the 
flesh,  and  becoming  God  with  us.  The  law  came  by  Moses,  and 
the  open  vision  b)^  the  prophets ;  but  grace  and  truth  came  by  Jesus 
Christ.  Yet  so  came,  that  of  all  the  law  and  all  the  prophets,  he 
destroyed  nothing,  but  fulfilled,  accomplished,  supplemented  all, 
and  made  all  glorious  in  its  grace  and  in  its  truth.  Whosoever  is 
descended  from  Abraham,  comes  to  be  translated  into,  whosoever 
is  born  of  the  Spirit ;  and  every  promise  to  the  seed  of  the  father 
of  the  faithful  terminates  in  the  Saviour  of  the  world,  and  inures 
to  the  benefit  of  every  penitent  sinner.  Whosoever  will  call  upon 
the  name  of  the  Lord  shall  be  saved  :  this  is  the  sublime  consum- 
ination.  Suited  to  all — open  to  all — the  Word  of  the  God  of  all 
— able  to  save  the  souls  of  all !  Ever}^  barrier  of  race,  and  clime, 
and  condition,  is  broken  over :  every  national  and  every  individual 
peculiarity  falls  to  the  ground :  the  book  of  God  becomes  also  the 
book  of  the  human  race.  No  nation  had  ever  al)andoned  its  own 
religion  to  receive  that  of  another  people;  but  now  all  nations 
embrace,  instead  of  their  own,  the    eligion,  which  at  first  seemed 


THE   INTERNAL    EVIDENCE   01'   CHRISTIANITY.  355 

only  suited  to  the  most  peculiar  of  all  people,  but  which,  when 
fully  manifested  of  God,  may  satisfy  and  supply,  while  it  may 
redeem  and  sanctify  every  soul  of  man  !  In  accomplishing  this 
great  development,  this  divine  transformation,  the  Son  of  God 
came  to  his  own,  and  his  own  received  him  not.  Their  insane 
cry  was,  we  have  no  king  but  Ctesar ; — not  Christ,  but  Barabbas  : 
let  his  blood  be  upon  us,  and  upon  our  children  !  It  was  a  fearful 
part  of  the  great  scheme  to  be  wrought  out  for  the  redemption  of 
man:  and  God  took  them  at  their  word.  Peeled,  scattered,  and 
sifted  throughout  the  world — the  curse  of  that  innocent  blood  has 
cleaved  to  them,  and  rulers,  fiercer  than  Caesar,  have  robbed  and 
murdered  them.  Jerusalem,  after  eighteen  centuries  of  desola- 
tion, is  still  trodden  down  ;  and  Israel  still  awaits  in  stubborn 
grief,  that  fulness  of  the  Gentiles,  until  which,  blindness  in  part 
is  happened  to  her.  Yet  how  signal  is  God's  mercy,  that  even  in 
circumstances  of  such  atrocious  guilt,  that  blindness  of  Israel 
should  be  only  in  part ;  and  what  a  marvel  of  divine  wisdom  is 
the  use  which  God  has  made  of  his  ancient  people  in  all  their 
wanderings — to  the  furtherance  of  the  great  design  they  had  set 
about  to  frustrate?  They  have  attested  in  every  land,  and  through 
every  age,  the  precious  and  fundamental  truths,  accepted  by  them 
as  revealed  in  their  own  Scriptures.  They  have,  in  like  manner, 
by  their  miraculous  preservation,  carried  everywhere  the  report  of 
those  glorious  truths  they  rejected,  and  illustrated  in  some  degree 
their  nature  and  their  power.  And  they  have  continually  con- 
firmed, in  their  wondrous  estate,  the  reality  of  those  predictions, 
and  the  force  of  those  promises,  yet  unfulfilled,  which  constitute 
so  large  a  part  of  the  oracles  of  God.  Standing  upon  such  an 
elevation,  and  surveying  such  prodigious  proofs,  the  unbelief  of 
the  present  age  is  not  a  whit  less  surprising  than  that  of  those 
who  personally  beheld  the  glory  of  the  Word  made  flesh,  even  as 
the  glory  of  the  only-begotten  of  the  Father. 

17.  The  fact  is  never  to  be  lost  sight  of,  that  the  religious 
system  developed  in  the  Scriptures — that  system  which  in  its  per- 
fect form  we  call  the  religion  of  Jesus — professes  to  be,  not  a  doc- 
trine merely,  but  also  a  power,  a  paramount  and  irresistible  moral 
power.  It  claims  to  be  the  power  of  God  unto  salvation ;  and 
upon  that  ground  challenges  the  judgment  of  mankind.  From 
the  very  first,  it  has  aimed  at  the  exclusion  of  all  error,  the  re- 
moval of  all  evil,  the  extirpation  of  all  sin.  From  the  point  we 
have  reachel,  we  are  able  to  estimate  this  force,  as  it  has  been 


366  THE   INTERNAL   EVIDENCE   OF   CHRISTIANITY. 

exerted  through  many  centuries  and  in  an  immense  variety  of 
positions ;  and  to  determine,  with  accuracy,  both  its  nature  and 
its  effects,  both  its  interior  organization,  and  its  outward  operation. 
Let  us  begin  with  the  latter. — We  have  seen  this  rehgion  of  Jesus 
in  conflict  with  Judaism,  after  the  glory  had  passed  from  Moses  to 
Messiah :  the  struggle  of  a  real  with  a  ceremonial  righteous- 
ness: the  idea  of  God  in  types  and  symbols,  perishing  before  the 
idea  of  God  incarnate.  We  have  seen  it  in  conflict  with  ancient 
heathenism :  all  the  gods  enshrined  in  the  Pantheon,  and  all  the 
gods  supported  and  adored  by  the  triumphant  Caesars,  lords  many 
and  gods  many,  dethroned  by  the  true  and  living  God.  We  have 
seen  it  in  conflict  with  the  false  prophet  of  Mecca :  the  fierce, 
licentious  and  warlike  religion  of  the  East,  after  a  struggle  so 
protracted  and  so  vehement,  vi'ithering  away  before  our  eyes, 
even  as  this  pure,  gentle,  and  peaceful  system  culminates  more 
gloriously.  We  have  seen  it  in  conflict  with  the  Man  of  Sin : 
the  Bride  of  the  Lord  pining  for  twelve  hundred  and  sixty  years 
under  the  rank  and  ferocious  apostasy  of  the  middle  ages,  meek 
and  undismayed  through  centuries  of  despair,  victorious  at  last, 
only  because  the  very  gates  of  hell  could  not  prevail  against  her. 
We  have  seen  it  in  conflict  with  every  form  of  error  from  within, 
and  every  mode  of  opposition  from  without :  superstition,  heresy, 
idolatry,  skepticism,  oppression,  persecution,  seduction,  corrup- 
tion, everywhere  confronting  all,  everywhere  resisting  all,  pre- 
cisely in  proportion  to  its  own  vital  purity,  as  determined  by  the 
open  Bible  v/hich  it  has  borne  aloft  throughout  the  earth. — And 
jaow,  in  these  last  days,  one  wide  and  universal  conflict  is  waged 
with  every  error  and  every  sin,  tliroughout  the  whole  world  :  and 
the  banner  which  is  the  emblem  of  divine  love,  still  rises  higher 
and  higher,  and  floats  more  and  more  broadly  over  the  host  of 
the  redeemed  :  and  still  from  the  undaunted  array,  the  loud  battle- 
cry  of  centuries  is  lifted  up  more  audibly,  glory  to  God  in  the 
highest,  and  on  earth  peace,  good-will  towards  men !  In  how 
many  aspects,  and  through  how  many  ages,  has  the  same  sub- 
lime spectacle  been  exhibited  !  God  manifest  in  the  flesh,  redeem- 
ing, reclaiming,  reconquering  rebellious  man !  Truth  united 
with  goodness,  subduing,  saving  sinners  !  Grace  abounding, 
grace  triumphant !  As  we  survey  this  ceaseless,  and  as  it  might 
seem,  endless  struggle,  there  is  one  truth  constantly  obvious,  one 
conception  infinitely  remarkable,  which,  justly  weighed,  ought  to 
be  decisive.     It  is  of  the  nature  of  all  human  passions  to  subside. 


THE   INTERNAL   EVIDENCE   OF   CHRISTIANITY.  357 

at  last.  All  human  excitements  pass  away.  All  human  interests 
decay.  All  human  institutions  perish.  What  is  great  and  good, 
along  with  what  is  little  and  vile,  hastens  to  a  common  oblivion — 
is  swept  into  an  undistinguished  ruin.  New  passions,  new  ex- 
citements, new  interests,  new  institutions,  follow  each  other  cease- 
lessly, each  springing  up  from  the  decaying  mass  of  the  old, 
which  return  no  more  forever.  There  is  no  restored  empire 
amongst  men.  There  is  no  restored  philosophy,  that  has  ever 
risen  from  the  dead  to  lead  men  captive  a  second  time.  There  is 
no  restored  superstition,  that  has  ever  recovered  a  lost  dominion 
over  the  human  soul.  How  immeasurably  different  from  this 
universal  law  of  all  human  things,  has  been  the  force  which  has 
manifested  itself  throughout  the  whole  career  of  Christianity? 
With  an  unutterable  tenacity,  its  divine  truths  cleave  to  man, 
and  stimulate  him  more  and  more.  With  a  divine  vigor  they 
recur  and  recur  again.  With  an  immortal  freshness,  they  recover 
from  every  stroke,  and  shake  off  every  incumbrance,  and  purge 
themselves  anew,  from  generation  to  generation.  One  immense 
portion  of  the  work  of  God's  church  in  the  world,  has  been  to 
recover  portions  of  her  own  heritage  wrested  from  her  by  violence, 
and  to  teach,  a  second  time,  nations  and  races  amongst  whom 
her  memorial  had  been  obscured,  or  utterly  put  out.  And  that 
which  happens  to  nothing  else,  is  that  in  which  her  main  hope 
and  strength  lie ;  the  continual  revival  in  her  own  bosom,  of  her 
own  primeval  spirit,  the  constant  recurrence  of  the  living  power, 
through  which  all  her  conquests  have  been  won.  This  grand 
peculiarity,  and  all  the  wonderful  effects  which  flow  from  it,  the 
one  and  the  other  distinguishing  the  Christian  religion  from  all 
human  things,  admits  only  of  that  explanation  which  the  Scrip- 
tures themselves  give.  It  is  Immanuel !  God  is  with  us  !  This 
explains  all ! 

18.  And  now,  as  to  the  intimate  nature  of  this  divine  power, 
with  which  the  rehgion  of  Jesus  claims  to  be  pregnant.  The 
Bible  exhibits  to  us  a  most  wonderful  climax  with  relation  to  this 
subject.  In  the  first  place,  it  reveals  to  us,  absolutely,  the  spir- 
itual system  of  the  universe,  with  particular  reference  to  our  own 
position  in  that  vast  and  glorious  system.  In  it,  and  nowhere 
else,  we  are  clearly  instructed  in  the  nature,  the  attributes,  and 
the  purposes  of  God  ;  the  origin,  the  nature,  and  the  destiny  of 
man  ;  our  relations  to  time  and  earth,  to  God  and  eternity.  In 
the  second  place,  the  Scriptures,  declaring  our  present  fallen  and 


358  THE    INTERNAL    EVIDENCE    OF   CHRISTIANITY. 

depraved  condition,  have  not  left  us  to  deduce  for  ourselves,  a 
spiritual  system  for  the  regulation  of  our  faith  and  practice,  from 
the  sublime  truths  thus  revealed  to  us  by  God.  But  they  set 
before  us  in  the  clearest  manner,  and  as  deduced  by  God  himself, 
all  the  beliefs  and  all  the  conduct,  which  become  such  creatures 
as  we  are,  occupying  such  a  position,  in  such  a  system,  and 
possessing  such  a  revelation.  In  the  third  place,  they  do  not 
leave  us,  even  there,  without  all  further  guidance  and  support,  to 
receive  and  obey  these  divine  teachings,  and  live  ;  or  reject  them 
and  perish.  They  superadd  an  unspeakable  gift,  a  Saviour,  not 
only  revealed  to  us,  but  bestowed  on  us.  Not  a  teacher  only, 
not  a  guide,  a  pattern,  a  benefactor,  a  friend,  only;  but  a  divine 
Saviour  from  our  sins.  Surely  the  wildest  urgency  could  demand 
no  more!  Ultimate  and  fundamental  truth,  all  revealed:  all 
faith,  and  all  practice  infallibly  deduced  therefrom,  and  set  before 
us  :  an  almighty  Saviour  superadded  !  But  God  has  given  more. 
In  the  fourth  place,  to  crown  all,  a  divine  and  infinite  agent,  the 
Holy  Ghost,  covenanted  in  the  blood  of  Jesus  Christ,  is  revealed 
to  us,  as  the  potential  author,  at  once  of  our  salvation,  and  of  the 
whole  revelation  by  which  it  is  promoted.  The  eternal  Spirit, 
who  inspired  the  Word  of  God,  who  applies  to  us  the  salvation  of 
Christ,  and  who  inclines  and  enables  us  to  believe  and  obey,  is, 
so  to  speak,  the  vicar  of  Jesus  Christ,  in  this  sublime  work  of  re- 
constructing the  moral  universe.  Now,  according  to  the  theory 
of  divine  revelation,  this  climax  exhibits  to  us,  some  idea  of  that 
living  power  which  the  Scriptures  proclaim.  If  we  consider,  in 
their  order,  the  stages  of  this  climax,  we  may  also  have  some 
idea  of  the  manner  in  which  and  the  extent  to  which  the  human 
soul  is  influenced  by  that  power.  Those  great  and  fundamental 
truths  which  lie  at  the  foundation  of  revealed  religion,  are  ac- 
cepted in  a  certain  sense,  by  the  great  mass  of  men,  in  all  coun- 
tries in  which  the  gospel  has  had  free  course ;  and  the  result  is 
manifest  in  the  great  superiority  of  all  nations  and  races,  which 
are  even  nominally  Christian,  over  all  others.  As  we  rise  a 
step  higher  and  observe  those  portions  of  our  race,  which  make 
some  serious  endeavor  to  regulate  their  lives  by  the  general  pre- 
cepts of  the  Christian  religion,  we  shall  perceive  a  still  more 
marked  amelioration  of  the  moral,  and  it  may  be  added,. the 
intellectual  condition  of  man.  At  the  next  elevation,  we  pass  to 
that  condition,  in  which  men  openly  profess  to  obey  the  Lord 
Jesus,  and  look  to  him  as  the  fountain  of  their  blessings  and  the 


THE   INTERNAL   EVIDENCE   OF   CHRISTIANITY.  359 

end  of  tlieir  hopes;  and  here  we  observe  a  still  more  decided 
advance  upon  the  natural,  and,  but  for  the  gospel  of  God,  the  uni- 
versal condition  of  our  race.  All  these  are  stages  through  which 
multitudes  of  individual  persons  scattered  through  all  ages  and 
races,  and  through  which,  also,  many  communities,  as  such,  have 
passed.  They  are  degrees  in  our  convictions,  phases  in  our  spirit- 
ual progress,  points  of  development  in  our  religious  life.  But 
the  crowning  work  is  the  power  of  the  Holy  Ghost  within  us ; 
and  as  that  is  experienced  in  the  fulness  of  its  divine  efficacy, 
whether  in  an  individual,  a  generation,  or  a  race,  there  is  ex- 
hibited the  consummation,  at  once,  of  the  work  of  grace,  and 
of  the  overwhelming  demonstration.  In  whatever  sense  moral 
truth,  resting  on  the  veracity  of  God  and  enforced  by  his  infinite 
majesty,  can  affect  the  human  understanding  ;  in  whatever  degree 
the  human  soul  can  be  influenced  by  motives,  or  impressed  with 
the  idea  of  responsibility,  or  controlled  by  the  sense  of  duty,  all 
directed  to  objects  which  are  infinite  and  eternal ;  whatever 
efficacy  abides  in  the  work  of  a  divine  Saviour  crucified  for  us, 
and  thereby  made  to  us,  the  power  of  God  and  the  wisdom  of 
God  ;  whatever  reality  is  found  in  that  new,  and  spiritual  life, 
unto  which  men  are  born  again,  by  the  demonstration  and  the 
power  of  the  Holy  Ghost :  just  to  the  whole  extent  of  all  these 
sublime  forces,  set  to  work  and  sustained  by  the  unsearchable 
riches  of  divine  grace,  is  it  possible  for  us  to  comprehend  with  all 
saints,  what  is  the  breadth,  and  length,  and  depth,  and  height, 
of  the  love  of  Christ,  and  to  be  filled  with  all  the  fulness  of  God  ! 
19.  Here  then  we  reach  a  point  where  the  argument  terminates, 
as  an  outward  one,  upon  the  certainty  of  our  knowledge ;  and  as 
an  inward  one,  upon  the  truth  of  our  consciousness.  If  the 
knowledge  of  anything  exterior  to  ourselves  can  be  said  to  be 
certain,  then  it  is  certain  that  multitudes  of  human  beings  have 
been  born  again  ;  for  there  is  no  other  fact  outward  as  to  us,  es- 
tablished by  an  amount  of  testimony  so  great,  so  various,  and  so 
conclusive.  But  if  men  have  been  born  again,  then  it  is  certain 
that  the  Bible  is  true  and  is  divine  ;  for  in  it  alone  is  that  great 
fact  developed  to  mankind,  and  through  it  alone  is  there  provided 
for  us  a  power  adequate  to  that  supernatural  change.  Again,  if 
hu!nan  consciousness  is  true,  and  its  testimony  faithful  as  to  what 
passes  within  us,  then,  also,  it  is  certain  that  multitudes  of  men 
have  been  born  again.  For  we  cannot  know  anything  whatever 
concerning  our  inner  life,   more   certainly   than   we   can    know 


360  THE   INTERNAL   EVIDENCE   OF   CHRISTIANITY. 

whether  or  not  we  are  spiritually  dead.  But,  as  it  has  been  ai- 
read}'  shown,  if  men  have  been  born  again,  then  the  Bible  is  true 
and  divine.  If,  however,  we  cannot  be  certain  of  anything  exte- 
rior to  ourselves,  nor  yet  certain  of  anything  that  passes  within 
us,  then  it  is  wholly  immaterial,  and  wholly  incapable  of  being 
determined,  whether  the  Bible,  or  anything  else,  be  either  true  or 
false  ;  or,  indeed,  whether  there  is  such  a  distinction  in  things  as 
we  call  true  and  false ;  or,  in  short,  whether  even  our  state  of 
mental  uncertainty  is  itself  real.  We  are,  upon  this  hypothesis, 
reduced  to  a  condition  of  utter  imbecility.  Upon  whatever  prin- 
ciple man  is  held  to  be,  either  rational  or  accountable,  it  can  be 
shown,  that  if  anything  is  certain,  it  is  certain  that  the  Scriptures 
are  true  and  of  divine  authority.  If  every  principle  upon  which 
man's  rational  and  moral  nature  can  be  vindicated,  is  overturned, 
everything  after  that  ceases  to  be  of  any  more  consequence  to  us 
than  to  the  beasts  that  perish.  So  the  most  rigorous  logic  con- 
ducts us  to  the  grand  result  which  all  experience  has  established, 
that  in  the  degree  we  trust  God,  we  exalt  man  ;  and  in  the  degree 
we  reject  God,  we  debase  man.  And  there  we  may  safely  leave 
the  argument. 

III. 

1.  I  have  now  endeavored,  in  a  simple  and  direct  manner,  under 
many  successive  propositions,  all  tending  to  one  general  and  cer- 
tain conclusion,  to  trace  the  course  of  an  argument  whose  result 
seems  to  me  to  be  absolute  and  unavoidable.  What  we  know 
concerning  ourselves — what  we  know  of  God,  of  the  order  of 
providence,  of  the  course  of  nature,  and  of  the  state  of  the  uni- 
verse, appears  to  be  absolutely  inconsistent  with  the  idea,  that  the 
contents  of  the  volume  which  we  call  the  Holy  Scriptures  could 
possibly  have  been  of  less  than  divine  origin.  On  the  other  hand, 
those  contents,  whether  considered  absolutely,  or  considered  rela- 
tively, to  our  knowledge  on  all  the  great  topics  just  alluded  to, 
seem,  beyond  all  question,  to  have  sprung,  as  they  profess  to  have 
sprung,  from  the  bosom  of  God,  and  to  be  invested  with  infinite 
claims  upon  our  faith  and  obedience.  The  question  at  issue  is 
one  of  awful  solemnity  and  terrible  magnitude.  Our  happiness 
in  this  world,  and  our  blessedness  throughout  eternity,  are  involved 
in  our  making  a  right  decision  of  it,  and  then  in  acting  rightly 
upon  that  decision.     If  we  reject  God,  we  are  undone.     But  it  is 


THE   INTERNAL   EVIDENCE   OF   CHKISTIANITY.  S6I 

of  liule  worth,  that  we  accept  him  in  name,  and  lake  no  heed  to 
his  commands  ;  nay,  even  that  our  minds  perceive  his  trutli,  while 
our  hearts  turn  away  from  him. 

2.  It  is  by  these  very  Scriptures  that  we  are  first  and  chiefly 
taught  how  to  know  God,  and  how  to  accept  of  him.  Then  let 
us  take  his  blessed  revelation  into  our  hands,  and,  if  the  image 
may  be  endured,  let  us  feel,  even  as  he  who  is  blind  feels  the  per- 
son and  the  face,  until,  by  little  and  little,  the  conviction  grows 
into  his  soul,  that  the  lineaments  are  lovely,  and  then  that  they 
are  familiar,  and  at  last  that  they  are  most  precious.  Thus,  if  we 
will  begin,  even  in  our  blindness,  to  handle  the  Word  of  Life,  it  will 
grow  upon  us  with  a  gentle  and  yet  mighty  power,  until  our  very 
weakness  is  made  strength,  and  our  very  darkness  made  light. 
Let  us  sit  down  at  the  feet  of  Jesus  and  learn  of  him.  Though 
his  words  be  strange  to  us  at  first,  they  will,  more  and  more,  find 
a  lodgment  and  a  response  within  us.  They  alone,  but  they  fully, 
can  divide  between  the  very  joints  and  marrow — the  very  soul 
and  spirit  of  man.  That  lone,  wayfaring  man,  may  appear  to 
us  without  form  or  comeliness ;  and  his  solemn  and  tender  words 
may  sound  strange  to  us  amidst  the  din  of  life.  Nevertheless,  let 
us  turn  and  follow  him.  As  we  walk  by  his  side,  we  shall  see 
above  that  crown  of  thorns  a  diadem  of  eternal  glory ;  we  shall 
feel  those  words,  which  once  we  understood  not,  burn  within  us, 
as  though  celestial  fire  had  fallen  upon  our  souls ;  his  favor  will 
become  life  unto  us, — his  loving-kindness  better  than  life !  O 
taste  and  see  that  the  Lord  is  good ! 

3.  Nay,  is  it  not  wise  and  comely  in  us  to  go  deeply  into  an 
inquiry  upon  which  there  is  for  us  so  much  at  stake?  Let  us 
then  open  our  minds  freely  to  the  instructions  of  this  marvellous 
record.  Let  us  examine  carefully  its  wondrous  statements.  It 
professes  to  contain  the  true  solution  of  all  those  immense  problems 
over  which  our  spirit  lingers  so  anxiously  ;  those  terrible  paradoxes 
before  which  our  highest  reason  has  so  often  recoiled.  It  comes 
to  us  with  the  acclamations  of  many  generations,  and  proclaim- 
ing itself  a  messenger  from  heaven.  This  much,  at  least,  we  are 
sure  of,  that  if  it  can  teach  us  what  it  professes  to  reveal,  it  can 
teach  us  what  none  besides  ever  knew,  or  if  they  knew,  ever  re- 
vealed. Let  us  then  calmly,  but  earnestly,  scrutinize  its  claims,  and 
master  its  contents.  At  first,  it  may  seem  hard  to  be  understood. 
A  ue-y  method  is  opened  before  us,  and  new  matter  continually 
rises  to  view.     Many  things  incomprehensible,  many  wonderful, 


362  THE  INTERNAL  EVIDENCE   OF   CHRISTIANITY. 

many  we  can  hardly  credit,  many  we  are  ready  to  cavil  over, 
many  we  feel  prepared  to  reject,  many  almost  hateful  to  us.  Still 
there  arises  a  strange  fascination  from  it,  and  a  marvellous  power 
seems  to  be  somehow  involved  in  it.  Let  us  not  strive  against  that 
fascination,  nor  resist  that  power.  If  they  are  of  the  earth,  they 
will  soon  show  themselves  earthy ;  if  they  are  from  the  Lord  of 
glory,  they  can  conduct  us  nowhere  but  to  light  and  peace.  Let 
us  examine  once  more  even  that  which  we  comprehend  the  most 
fully ;  there  is  more  in  it  than  we  have  yet  observed,  something 
forever  new,  something  forever  beyond  what  we  had  yet  noticed. 
If  it  were  wholly  of  man,  a  small  part  of  the  labor  we  have  be- 
stowed upon  it,  would  have  made  us  perfectly  master  of  it  all; 
would  have  exposed  to  us  perhaps  many  weaknesses,  many  errors; 
would  have,  assuredly,  elevated  us  to  something  like  a  level  with 
its  noblest  portions.  Let  us  be  just  to  ourselves,  and  to  it.  Let 
us  confess  that  the  more  familiar  we  become  with  its  exalted 
spirit,  the  more  clearly  do  we  perceive  the  immense  distance  at 
which  it  is  elevated  above  us.  Let  us  acknowledge  that  if  we  are 
wise  unto  salvation,  it  is  in  its  wisdom  we  have  become  so ;  and 
that  we  have  found  at  last  that  which  is  a  lamp  unto  our  feet 
and  a  light  unto  our  path,  even  thy  word,  O  Lord,  which  is  settled 
in  heaven,  forever !  Paul,  when  he  exclaimed  in  the  midst  of 
the  sublimest  meditations,  that  all  the  treasures  of  wisdom  and 
knowledge  are  hid  in  Christ ;  and  Simon  Peter,  v;hen  answering 
for  the  twelve,  he  told  the  Lord,  that  because  he  had  the  words 
of  eternal  life,  they  were  sure  he  was  the  Christ,  the  Son  of  the 
living  God  ;  and  the  woman  of  Sychar  at  Jacob's  well,  when 
Jesus  told  her,  I  am  he,  and  she  believed,  because  he  knew  all 
her  outward  and  all  her  inner  life :  all  gave  utterance,  in  differ- 
ent forms,  to  the  common  experience  of  the  human  soul,  and  to 
various  aspects  of  the  grand  principle  on  which  its  conviction 
rests,  that  God's  word  is  truth.  r-t- 

4.  A  final  step  brings  us  to  the  bottom  of  a  subject  so  full  of 
grandeur  in  itself,  and  of  such  fearful  import  to  fallen  men.  Let 
us  take  that  step,  and  receive  into  our  hearts  this  heaven- 
descended  truth.  Let  us  uncover  the  depths  of  our  inward  being 
before  its  searching  light  and  its  mighty  power.  Let  us  open 
widely  to  it,  those  strange  hearts  so  full,  at  the  same  moment, 
of  weakness  and  of  strength,  so  desperately  wicked,  and  yet 
capacious  of  eternal  life.  Our  profoundest  desire  is,  for  inward 
peace,  and  yet  we  are  the  victims  of  a  ceaseless  inward  struggle. 


THE   INTERNAL    EVIDENCE   OF   CHRISTIANITY.  368 

Our  deepest  conviction  is  that  we  are  impure,  and  yet  we  shrink 
with  horror  from  the  thought  of  abiding  so  forever.  There  are 
necessities  in  our  hearts  which  nothing  human  can  supply;  pas- 
sions, which  nothing  human  can  either  satisfy  or  control ;  desires, 
"which  nothing  human  can  either  subdue  or  gratify ;  powers, 
which  nothing  human  can  either  adequately  excite  or  occupy. 
And  oh  !  there  are  sorrows,  deep  sorrows,  which  will  not  be 
assuaged  ;  wounds,  which,  if  the  balm  that  is  in  Gilead  cannot 
heal,  must  fester  forevermore ;  sins  far  beyond  the  reach  of  all 
skill  but  that  of  the  great  physician  of  souls.  Will  you  risk  that 
skill,  my  brother?  Will  you  ask  him  to  remember  Calvary,  and 
then  to  pity  you  ?  This  is  his  proposal,  which  has  gone  out  into 
all  the  world,  and  the  sound  thereof  to  every  creature :  Come 
now,  and  let  us  reason  together,  saith  the  Lord  ;  though  your 
sins  be  as  scarlet,  they  shall  be  as  white  as  snow :  though  they 
be  red  like  crimson,  they  shall  be  as  wool.  And  this  is  the  re- 
sponse of  that  innumerable  company,  who  received  his  truth  in 
the  love  of  it:  Unto  him  that  loved  us  and  washed  us  from  our' 
sins  in  his  own  blood,  and  hath  made  us  kings  and  priests  unto 
God,  and  his  Father  ;  to  him  be  glory  and  dominion,  forever  and 
ever." 

5.  No  doubt  it  is  the  duty  of  all  the  disciples  of  Christ  to  use 
their  utmost  endeavors  to  spread  the  everlasting  gospel  over  the 
earth,  and,  by  every  means  in  their  pov/er,  enforce  its  claims  upon 
every  creature.  Nor,  indeed,  is  it  possible  for  them  to  avoid  feel- 
ing the  deepest  interest  in  this  great  labor  of  love.  Still,  how- 
ever, we  must  not  imagine  that  their  interest,  or,  if  the  expres- 
sion is  allowable,  the  interest  of  their  master,  in  the  result,  bears 
any  assignable  proportion  to  that  of  those  who  are  ready,  in  their 
daring  wickedness,  or  childish  ignorance,  to  despise  the  com- 
munications of  God's  grace.  Nor  must  we  allow  ourselves  to 
suppose,  for  a  moment,  that  the  smallest  uncertainty  a,s  to  the 
grand  event — much  less  the  least  danger  to  the  cause  of  God's 
truth — or  the  ultimate  triumph  of  Christ's  kingdom,  can  arise 
from  all  the  folly,  the  ignorance,  the  unbelief,  and  the  impiety  of 
all  who  reject  the  divine  Redeemer.  Whether  men  will  hear  or 
whether  they  will  forbear,  yet  shall  they  be  made  to  know  as- 
suredly that  God  has  sent  his  messengers  into  their  midst.  The 
word  that  has  gone  forth  out  of  the  mouth  of  God  shall  not  re- 
turn unto  him  void,  but  shall  accomplish  that  which  he  pleases, 
and  shall  prosper  in  that  wheret»  he  sent  it.     Heaven  and  earth 


364  THE   INTERNAL    EVIDENCE   OF   CHRISTIANITY, 

may  pass  away  ;  but  not  one  jot  nor  one  tittle  of  all  that  God  has 
uttered  shall  pass  away,  till  all  is  fulfilled.  The  stone  which  was 
cut  out  without  hands,  shall  not  only  break  in  pieces  the  iron,  the 
brass,  the  clay,  the  silver  and  the  gold,  but  shall  become  a  great 
mountain,  and  fill  the  whole  earth.  Whosoever  shall  fall  on  this 
stone  shall  be  broken  ;  but  on  whomsoever  it  shall  fall,  it  will 
grind  him  to  powder  ! 


m 


H.JaanlQii.Da6» 


1 

i 


^njiiilnr  (Dhjertintts  tn  Cjiristtanitij, 


BY  B.  M.  SMITH, 

FASTOa    OF   THE   STA  rfTON    PEE8BYTEE1AN    CHOUCH. 


Christianity  has  been  the  object  of  a  varied  and  ceaseless, 
though  futile  opposition.  Ruthless  persecutions  marked  its  early 
history.  It  grew  strong  under  oppression.  The  flattering  caresses 
of  power,  and  the  wealth  and  honors  of  the  world  were  lavished, 
to  corrupt  its  faith  and  form.  Its  vitality  survived  the  taint. 
Intestine  wars,  which  consume  the  vigor  of  other  institutions, 
revived  its  energies  and  purified  its  principles.  Religious  con- 
troversies, intrinsically  deplorable,  served  to  define  more  clearly 
the  boundaries  of  truth  ;  and  persecutions,  fiercer  than  pagan,  to 
distinguish  its  adherents.  As  a  purer  Christianity  was  emerging 
from  the  convulsions  and  revolutions  of  the  sixteenth  century,  it 
encountered  a  form  of  opposition,  professedly  based  on  the  princi- 
ples avowed  by  the  Reformers.  With  them,  Deists  renounced  the 
bondage  of  superstition  for  the  dictates  of  reason,  and  abjured 
the  dogmas  of  Popery,  for  the  authority  of  God.  But,  affirming 
that  the  teachings  of  natural  opposed  those  of  revealed  religion, 
they  boldly  denied  its  claims,  questioned  its  principles  and  at- 
tacked its  evidences.  They  conducted  the  assault  with  serious- 
ness, dignity  and,  at  least,  the  semblance  of  reasoning.  It  was 
repelled  with  solemn  earnestness,  unassuming  boldness,  candor 
and  generosity.  If  one  party,  with  no  personal  concern  in  the 
result,  had  nothing  to  hope  from  success,  but  the  honors  of  victory, 
and  the  other,  confident  in  the  power  and  permanence  of  divine 
truth,  nothing  to  fear  from  defeat,  but  temporary  dishonor,  both 
seemed  duly  sensible  that  the  solemn  interests  of  the  divine  pre- 
rogative, man's  duty  here  and  destiny  hereafter,  were  suspended 
on  the  issue. 

A  later  stage  of  the  deistical  controversy  presented  a  different 
aspect.  If  not  convinced,  intelligent  and  candid  infidels  had  felt 
forced,  by  the  irrefragable  proofs  of  Christianity,  to  retire  from  the 
contest.  The  field  was  occupied  by  a  desperate  and  distracted 
squadron  of  vulgar  sciolists,  content  with  an  endless  repetition  of 
repelled  attacks.     The  world  saw,  in  the  bold  sophisms,  the  reck- 


368  POPULAR   OBJECTIONS   TO   CHRISTIANITY. 

less  assertions,  the  scurrilous  abuse  and  drivelling  wit  of  Paine,  (he 
degeneracy  of  his  class,  and  the  hopeless  efforts  of  men,  whose 
success  had  been  the  greatest  curse,  and  whose  defeat,  the  greatest 
blessing  to  mankind. 

Meanwhile  Christianity,  released  from  the  obligation  to  defend 
its  existence,  assumed  its  proper  position  and  exerted  its  inherent 
energies.  Constitutionally  aggressive,  it  was  not  satisfied  that 
the  violence  of  the  assault  had  ceased,  and  the  activity  of  oppo- 
nents subsided  in  the  calm  of  indifference ;  but  demanded  a  cor- 
dial embrace  of  its  principles  and  a  cheerful  submission  to  its  pre- 
cepts. In  religious  relations,  constitutionally  exclusive,  it  was 
not  enough  that  men  ceased  to  swear  by  Mahomet  and  sacrifice 
to  Juggernaut,  cast  their  idols  to  moles  and  bats,  or  abandoned 
the  worship  of  four-footed  beasts  and  creeping  things  ;  they  must 
also  avow  the  doctrines,  and  practise  the  duties  taught  by  the 
lowly  Nazarene. 

The  zeal  with  which  these  claims  have  been  urged,  and  the 
energy  with  which  they  have  been  prosecuted,  have  aroused  the 
slumbering  foe.  Infidelity  has  revived  the  contest,  in  our  genera- 
tion, under  a  new  policy,  and  one  imposing  on  the  advocates  of 
Christianity  new  obligations  to  vigilance  and  effort.  Our  oppo- 
nents now  aim  to  weaken  the  efficiency  of  a  system  they  despair 
of  defeating,  and,  in  the  manner  of  retreating  armies,  to  impede 
a  progress  they  are  unable  to  prevent.  On  the  one  hand,  under 
the  guise  of  friendship,  proposing  to  elucidate  the  mysteries  of 
Revelation,  by  bungling  efforts,  they  make  intricacies  more  per- 
plexing. Thus  we  have  metaphysicians,  who,  in  explaining  the 
mode  of  divine  existence,  obliterate  all  traces  of  a  personal 
divinity  in  the  lamina  of  Pantheism  ;  theologians,  who  by  the 
absurdities  of  transcendentalism,  have  eviscerated  the  moral 
power  of  the  Saviour's  life  and  doctrine,  and  the  benefits  of  his 
atonement ;  and  moralists,  who  in  sentimental  whinings,  have 
stripped  the  divine  character  of  the  attributes  of  holiness  and 
justice.  On  the  other  hand,  taught  by  experience  the  futility 
of  marshalling  their  forces  for  a  general  conflict,  on  whose  issue 
the  whole  cause  might  depend,  our  opponents  have  posted  them 
in  detachments,  armed  with  the  weapons  of  a  defensive,  but 
annoying  warfare.  Old  objections  are  revived  or  new  devised. 
They  seek  not  to  destroy  our  reverence  for  Revelation,  as  a 
whole,  by  the  arraignment  of  the  Bible  as  a  falsehood,  but  by  an 
adroit  exhibition  of  the  alleged   falsehoods   of  the   Bible,  they 


POPULAR   OBJECTIONS  TO   CHRISTIANITY.  360 

aim  to  sap  our  confidence  in  its  parts.  Such  a  policy,  though 
advantageous  to  them,  involves  us  in  much  embarrassment.  It 
is  easy  to  object,  and  impudence  or  ignorance  may  propound,  in 
a  few  words,  questions,  which  ingenuity  and  learning  may  re- 
quire pages  to  answer.  In  the  course  of  eighteen  centuries,  count- 
less objections  have  been  started,  as  well  the  produce  of  curiosity, 
timidity,  and  candor,  as  of  stupidity,  arrogance,  and  malice. 
Many  of  them,  though  repeatedly  confuted,  are  pertinaciously  re- 
iterated; for  new  books  find  new  readers,  and  the  old  poison  may 
prove  efficient  by  repeated  doses,  or  find  subjects  for  its  power  un- 
provided with  the  antidote.  With  the  more  general  diffusion  of 
knowledge,  the  evil  as  well  as  the  good  has  been  disseminated. 
Skeptical  opinions,  Vv'hich  were  once  to  be  found  only  in  the  heavy 
folio  or  voluminous  octavo,  accessible  to  the  learned,  are  now  em- 
bodied in  the  essays  of  newspapers  and  diatribes  of  reviews,  in- 
sinuated in  novels  or  interwoven  in  amusing  tales.  They  thus 
become  entrenched  in  the  fastnesses  of  popular  incredulity,  or 
sustain  the  strongholds  of  popular  apathy  and  indifference.  The 
farmer,  mechanic,  day-laborer,  apprentice,  and  school-boy,  learn 
objections  to  particular  parts  of  the  Bible,  enough  to  engender 
doubts  and  cavils  as  to  all,  and  hinder  the  workings  of  a  true 
faith. 

Such  then,  is  the  present  aspect  of  opposition  to  Christianity. 
It  is  very  evident,  that  the  contest  of  our  generation,  must  be 
more  difficult,  because  more  manifold,  more  perplexing,  because 
more  desultory,  and  more  prolonged,  because  ultimate  success  is 
suspended  on  surmounting  unnumbered  obstacles,  neither  alone 
important,  the  greater  part  even  trivial,  but  presenting  an  aggre- 
gate of  imposing  consequence. 

I.  Our  way  will  be  prepared  for  a  particular  examination  of 
objections,  and  some  repetition  avoided,  by  a  few  preliminary  re- 
marks, connected  with  the  general  subject. 

1.  Since  infidels,  who  reject  the  Christian,  and  Deists,  who  reject 
all  revelation,  receive  in  common  with  us,  the  truths  of  Natural 
Religion,  as  of  divine  origin,  objections  to  Christianity  are  properly 
answered,  by  showing  that  ihey  are  equally  pertinent  to  the  re- 
ligion of  nature.  Indeed,  irrespective  of  the  distinctness,  witii 
which  the  scheme  of  natural  religion  may  be  avowed,  if  men  only 
allow  that  God  is  the  Author  of  nature  or  natural  governor  of  the 
world,  whenever  we  find  the  same  sort  of  difficulties  common  to 
Christianity  and  the  course  of  nature,  they  cannot,  on  account  of 

24 


370  POPULAR   OBJECTIONS   TO  CHRISTIANITY. 

such  difficulties,  deny  that  the  former  has  come  from  God,  unless 
they  also  deny  that  the  world  has  come  from  God,  and  exchange 
Deism  for  Atheism. 

2.  The  existence  of  objections  against  Christianity,  even  when 
we  are  incapable  of  providing  satisfactory  answers  and  explana- 
tions, in  every  case,  is  no  argument  against  its  claims. 

(1.)  Reason  has  been  given  to  guide  us  to  the  knowledge  of 
truth,  and  we  may  feel  assured  that  God  reveals  nothing  contra- 
dictory of  its  clear  and  proper  deductions.  But  reason  cannot 
devise  schemes  of  Providence  or  systems  of  Revelation.  There 
are  many  things  in  the  constitution  of  nature,  which  we  had 
never  invented,  and  which  are  very  different,  when  discovered, 
from  what  we  might  have  previously  expected.  Now  they  are 
known,  our  reason  judges  and  approves  of  them.  Thus  in  the 
adaptation  of  one  part  of  this  constitution  to  another,  we  find,  that 
the  young  of  mammiferous  animals  being  provided  with  suitable 
nourishment  by  the  parent,  may  be  produced  at  any  season,  while 
those  of  graminivorous  animals,  are  ordinarily  produced  only  at 
certain  and  suitable  seasons.  The  sun's  powers  are  said  to  be 
chemical,  luminiferous,  and  calorific,  and  these  are  respectively 
strongest  when  most  needed;  the  first,  for  germinating  in  the 
spring,  the  second  for  nutriment,  in  early  summer,  the  last  for 
maturing,  in  late  summer  and  early  autumn.  As  reason  may 
thus  be  led  to  approve  what  it  could  not  devise,  in  the  course  of 
nature,  so,  on  a  due  examination  and  care,  it  may  be  led  to  ap- 
prove, what  it  could  not  have  devised  in  Revelation. 

(2.)  Moreover,  there  are  many  truths  of  natural  and  moral 
science,  to  which,  before  experience  and  observation,  we  might 
have  objected  as  incredible,  unreasonable  or  inconsistent  with  the 
divine  attributes.  Thus  brutes  without  reason,  act  with  more 
sagacity  and  foresight  than  man,  in  some  cases,  even  involving 
life.  The  Copernican  theory  was  once  rejected  by  thousands  on 
what  they  believed  the  irrefragable  evidence  of  their  senses,  though 
now  it  is  generally  received.  We  now  believe  the  light  to  be  inde- 
pendent of  the  sun,  which  we  are  told  is  a  dark  body.  We  know 
that  volcanoes  and  earthquakes,  pestilence  and  famine,  overwhelm 
in  ruin,  or  sweep,  as  with  a  besom  of  destruction,  many  fair  por- 
tions of  earth,  and  that  millions  of  infants  are  doomed  to  pain, 
suffering  and  untimely  death.  These  and  other  strange  and  sur- 
prising facts  in  the  course  of  nature,  might,  as  matters  of  a  reve- 
lation, have  appeared  liable  to  objections.     Of  (he  truth  of  those 


POPULAR  OBJECTIONS  TO  CHRISTIAKITY.  371 

which  are  matters  of  science,  discovery,  observation,  and  scientific 
investig-ation  have  satisfied  us.  Of  the  consistency  of  others 
with  divine  wisdom  and  benevolence,  we  feel  satisfactory  assur- 
ances. The  grounds  of  this  satisfaction,  we  are  not  called  to  state 
at  large.  It  may  be  said,  however,  that  the  present  scheme  is  one 
of  imperfect  development,  and  that  we  are  ignorant  and  incapable 
of  understanding  all  the  reasons  and  modes  of  divine  government, 
and  hence,  what,  as  isolated  facts,  now  surprise  and  confound  us, 
may,  when  seen  with  perfected  faculties,  as  parts  of  one  great 
plan,  not  only  satisfy  our  doubts,  but  elicit  our  admiration.  Now 
seeing  that  liableness  to  objections  in  the  course  of  nature,  may 
be  removed,  it  is  equally  credible  that  liableness  to  objections  in 
the  scheme  of  Revelation  may  be  removed.  Satisfied  by  evidence, 
that  the  one  is  from  God,  we  see  that  objections  which  might  have 
existed  because  it  contained  things  different  from  our  expectations, 
would  have  been  frivolous  and  invalid.  Thus  the  divine  origin 
of  Christianity  being  sustained  by  reliable  evidences,  objections  to 
its  matter  even  grave  and  important,  founded  on  our  conceptions, 
ought  not  to  impair  our  confidence  in  its  truth,  as  they  may,  for 
aught  we  know,  be  as  susceptible  of  refutation  as  the  others. 

(3.)  As  we  could  not  know  before  experience,  what  w^ould  be 
the  course  of  nature,  it  is  presumable  from  analogy,  as  well  as  the 
nature  of  Revelation,  which  purposes  to  enlighten  us,  that  we  could 
not  know  beforehand,  what  it  ought  or  ought  not  to  contain,  how 
it  ought  to  be  expressed,  figuratively  or  plainly,  obscurely  or  clearly, 
and  by  what  and  what  kind  of  evidence  it  ought  to  be  presented. 
We  may  sit  in  judgment  on  man,  the  laws  and  modes  of  whose 
existence  we  can  apprehend  and  appreciate,  and  of  some  things 
in  human  science,  we  can,  in  advance,  affirm  what  will  or  will 
not  be.  But,  of  God's  ways  in  the  natural  and  moral  world,  we 
are  incompetent  judges,  except  in  so  far  as  he  has  provided  mate- 
rials. We  may  say  in  the  matters  of  science,  that  such  planets 
exist  as  Mars  and  Venus,  but  we  cannot  say,  that  in  the  "  mighty 
annular  space"  between  two  planets,  no  other  exists.  Of  parts  of 
the  universe  we  can  say,  "  here  are  the  monuments  of  divine  power 
and  wisdom,"  but  of  others  we  cannot  say,  "here  God  has  never 
wrought ;  here  he  never  will ;  no  planet  ever  moved,  and  none 
will  ever,  no  system  will  ever  be  arranged  in  these  vast  regions  of 
space,"  till  we  shall  have  winged  our  flight  over  the  boundless 
area  of  immensity,  or  traversed  in  one  moment  of  time,  the  im- 
measurable cycles  of  an  eternity  from  everlasting  to  everlasting. 


372  POrULAK   OBJECTIONS  TO   CHRISTIANITY. 

So  in  matters  of  religion,  we  may  assert  what  God  has  taught  us 
in  the  works  of  his  hands,  and  by  the  methods  of  his  providence ; 
but  of  other  things,  as  the  statements  of  Revelation,  of  which 
natural  religion  furnishes  us  with  nothing  similar,  we  dare  not 
deny  or  affiim,  as  to  say,  "  this  is  contrary  to  justice,"  or  "this  to 
mercy,"  or  "  this  to  reason,"  till  we  have  fully  compassed  the  na- 
ture and  character  of  that  God  who  is  "  unsearchable  in  his  judg- 
ments," and  "  whose  ways  are  past  finding  out." 

(4.)  These  views  are  very  much  strengthened,  when  we  bear  in 
mind,  that  the  Christian  revelation  is  not  only  a  republication  of 
the  religion  of  nature,  but  is  a  religion  of  sinners.  It  teaches  men 
that  they  are  rebels  against  God,  haters  of  the  light  of  truth,  evil- 
doers, and,  as  such,  exposed  to  the  just  and  severe  indignation  of 
God.  Such  a  revelation  must  be  displeasing  to  men,  and  supposing 
it  to  be  true,  and  in  the  particulars  mentioned,  its  teachings  cor- 
respond with  those  of  natural  religion,  men,  as  criminals,  are  in- 
capable of  sitting  in  judgment  on  the  procedures  of  their  sovereign. 
Hence  besides  an  abatement  from  the  force  of  objections,  because 
of  man's  natural  repugnance  to  the  scheme,  such  as  it  is,  there 
must  be  an  abatement  on  the  grounds  of  this  moral  mcompetency, 
as  we  have  seen  there  must  be  on  account  of  the  intellectual  in- 
capacity to  decide  on  the  character  of  a  revelation. 

It  seems  thus,  on  the  whole,  evident,  that  the  existence  of  ob- 
jections against  Christianity  forms  no  argument  against  its  claims. 

II.  Whatever  may  formerly  have  been  the  relative  consequence 
of  objections  to  the  scheme  and  objections  to  the  evidences  of 
Christianity,  we  feel  assured,  that  in  the  present  aspects  of  the 
opposition  to  its  claims,  the  former  are  by  no  means  matters  of 
trivial  importance,  if  indeed  they  do  not  rank  with  the  latter,  as 
hindrances  to  their  acknowledgment.  AVere  the  divine  origin  of 
Christianity  to  be  decided,  only  on  the  principles  of  sound  reason- 
ing, we  might  safely  rest  the  decision  on  the  force  of  its  evidences; 
and  these  shown  to  be  irrefragable,  all  objections,  based  on  its 
alleged  internal  improbabilities,  might  be  summarily  met,  by  the 
proof  of  our  incompetency  to  decide  what  a  revela^tion  ought  to 
contain.  But  all  men  are  not  logicians,  or  at  least,  do  not  always 
reason  logically,  and  hence  it  becomes  important  to  give  to  the 
popular  objections  against  Christianity,  a  particular  consideration. 

Under  other  circumstances,  a  detailed  examination  of  all  no- 
ticeable objections  might  be  both  practicable  and  profitable.  But 
this  is  obviously  inconsistent  with  our  prescribed  limits.     Nor  is  it 


POPULAR   OBJECTIONS   TO   CnRISTIANITY.  373 

absolutely  necessary  to  our  purpose.  Such  an  examination  of  some 
of  the  most  important,  may  furnish  lo  the  minds  of  candid  and 
impartial  persons,  satisfactory  assurances  that  none  of  them  pre- 
sent adequate  reasons  for  the  neglect  or  rejection  of  the  Christian 
scheme. 

1.  Objections  to  the  evidences  of  Christianity  constitute  a 
prominent  feature  in  the  opposition  to  its  claims.  The  most  im- 
portant of  these,  having,  according  to  the  syllabus  of  this  course, 
been  already  fully  discussed,  either  as  special  topics,  or  as  falling 
within  the  scope  of  other  lectures,  require  no  farther  attention. 
Since,  however,  the  alleged  insufficiency  of  some,  or  all  of  these 
evidences,  to  establish  the  truth  of  Christianity,  has  been  some- 
times adduced  as  a  positive  argument  against  its  claims,  it  may 
neither  be  impertinent  to  our  own  general  purpose,  nor  involve 
any  material  repetition,  to  give  to  this  general  objection  to  the 
evidences,  a  brief  consideration. 

(1.)  In  a  matter,  whose  decision  is  sustained  by  several  distinct 
proofs,  the  real  deficiency  of  one  does  not  necessarily  invalidate 
the  others.  Thus  could  a  proposition,  subversive  of  the  evidence 
of  miracles,  be  sustained,  our  confidence  in  that  afforded  by  other 
sources  is  not  impaired.  The  character  of  Christianity  as  a  sys- 
tem of  moral  truth  and  the  effects  of  the  truth  would  remain,  and 
the  prophecies  recorded  in  the  Bible,  whose  fulfilment  is  attested 
by  history,  would  not  be  erased. 

(2.)  The  alleged  insufficiency  of  one  or  all  of  the  evidences 
may  not  be  owing  to  anything  intrinsic.  The  impairing  of  any 
sense,  will,  of  course,  impair  the  force  of  evidence  addressed  to  us 
through  its  medium.  So  defects  of  mental  culture,  as  to  knowl- 
edge or  discipline,  or  obliquity  of  moral  nature,  may  greatly  im- 
pair the  power  of  evidence,  which,  fairly  presented,  might  be  con- 
vincing. This  is  daily  exemplified  in  respect  of  the  moral  and 
physical  interests  of  men,  and  its  pertinency  to  this  subject  is 
readily  apprehended,  by  all  who  have  observed,  how  much  pas- 
sion, pride  and  prejudice  affect  the  human  mind,  in  matters  of 
religion. 

(3.)  Supposing  that,  on  examination  of  the  proofs  in  favor  of 
Christianity,  Ave  are  left  in  some  doubt  of  their  sufficiency  to  es- 
tablish its  claims,  we  are  not  thereby  justified  in  its  rejection,  or 
even  a  suspension  of  our  investigation.  For  our  doubting  itself 
implies  some  degree  of  evidence  in  favor  of  that,  of  which  we 
doubt.     Even  when  evidences,  for  and  against  a  proposition,  so 


374  POPULAR  OBJECTIONS  TO   CHRISTIANITY. 

balance, that  one  set  destroys  the  force  of  the  other,  as  ground  for 
a  conclusion,  yet  there  is  more  evidence  for  either  side,  than  for 
thoughts  or  views,  rising  in  the  mind  without  any  cause  which 
may  be  assigned.  That  the  evidences  for  Christianity  do  not  pro- 
duce conviction,  is  not  therefore  equivalent  to  saying,  there  is  no 
evidence.  There  being  some,  it  matters  not  how  little,  consider- 
ing the  importance  of  the  interests  at  stake,  that  others  of  equal 
or  greater  general  intelligence,  reading  and  ability  with  ourselves, 
have  decided  favorably  on  these  claims,  so  far  from  being  justified 
in  their  dismission,  we  should  rather  suspect  some  flaw  in  our 
course  of  reasoning,  or  some  inaccuracy  in  our  supposed  facts,  and 
earnestly  seek  more  light.  For  there  are  numberless  instances  in 
our  daily  life,  when  we  form  decisions  on  very  impeachable  evi- 
dences of  correctness,  and  engage  in  important  enterprises,  where 
the  probabilities  of  success  are  very  faint.  The  experience  of 
others,  their  opinions,  and  our  reasonings  and  deductions  from  sup- 
posed facts,  received  on  doubtful  testimony,  are  often  relied  on, 
though  our  liableness  to  deception,  the  uncertainties  of  all  future 
events  and  that  of  our  living  among  them,  together  with  contrary 
experiences,  opinions  and  observations,  may,  and  often  do  raise, 
not  only  some,  but  great  doubts  of  the  propriety  of  our  decisions. 
Thus  we  are  compelled  to  act  on  probabilities.  So,  while  God  has 
very  clearly  marked  the  path  of  duty  in  Revelation,  he  has  left  us, 
as  in  other  subjects  of  a  moral  nature,  to  ascertain  that  he  has 
thus  marked  it,  by  the  use  of  our  reason,  framing  a  judgment  on 
the  probabihties  presented. 

(4.)  That  the  alleged  insufficiency  of  evidence  may  be  a  ground- 
less complaint,  and  want  of  conviction  be  ascribable  to  want  of  due 
attention  in  using  the  means,  is  made  highly  presumable,  by  this 
consideration  :  that  the  evidences  in  favor  of  the  truths  of  natural 
religion,  though  patent  to  all,  in  the  works  of  creation  and  provi- 
dence, have  not  so  extensively  or  permanently  impressed  the  minds 
of  men,  as  those  in  favor  of  revealed.  This  has  been  true,  even 
although  the  propagation  of  its  truths  has  not  been  resisted  by 
virulent  and  cruel  persecution,  nor  opposed  so  strongly  by  the  nat- 
ural dispositions  of  men.  As  God  has  not  made  these  evidences 
irresistible,  which  would  have  been  a  virtual  annuUing  of  free 
agency,  but  has  required  us  to  exercise  our  reasoning  and  moral 
faculties,  in  order  to  an  understanding  and  conviction  of  truth,  we 
rightly  ascribe  this  failure  to  receive  the  instructions  of  natural  reh- 
gion,  to  a  want  of  proper  a',tention.     So,  as  God  has  not  made  the 


POPULAR  OBJECTIONS  TO   CHRISTIANITY.  376 

evidences  of  Christianity  irresistible,  and  for  the  same  reason,  we 
may  justly  ascribe  the  want  of  conviction,  to  a  failure  of  diligence 
and  serious  attention,  and  not  necessarily  to  a  want  of  evidence, 
sufficient  to  secure  our  assent  to  its  propositions. 

(5.)  The  alleged  insufficiency  of  some  of  these  evidences  maybe 
ascribed  to  a  neglect  of  others.  It  has  been  well  observed,  that  the 
evidences  of  Christianity  may  have  been  constituted  such  as  thev 
are,  as  a  part  of  some  men's  trial,  or  state  of  probation.  This  iw 
consistent  with  the  divine  method  in  respect  of  other  important 
moral  subjects.  We  are  exposed  to  temptations  to  do  wrong,  and 
furnished  with  incentives  to  do  right,  and  resistance  to  one  and 
concurrence  with  the  other,  are  left  to  our  choice,  for  which  we  are 
responsible.  A  studious  and  serious  effort  in  pursuit  of  what  is 
probably  our  duty,  renders  the  path  of  virtue  easier,  and  a  yield- 
ing to  the  dictates  of  passion  or  suggestions  of  indolence,  facili- 
tates the  progress  of  evil.  Thus  any  evidences  of  Christianity 
appearing  doubtful  to  any,  even  to  a  very  great  degree,  affords 
temptation  to  its  summary  rejection,  or  gives  opportunity  for  the 
virtuous  exercise  of  our  faculties.  And  as  some  men,  perhaps  in- 
clined by  the  unpalatable  truths  of  the  Bible,  to  rejection,  or  fail- 
ing, by  indolence  or  carelessness,  to  examine  the  subject  seriously 
and  patiently,  do  not  obtain  evidence  sufficient  for  conviction, 
they  must  blame  themselves  and  not  the  divine  dispensation 
under  which  they  live,  which,  in  this,  as  other  things,  commends 
itself  to  our  enlightened  reason  and  sober  judgment. 

(6.)  However  insufficient  the  evidences  of  Christianity  may, 
for  any  reason,  appear  to  some,  yet  on  a  fair  and  impartial  esti- 
mate of  the  acknowledged  facts  in  the  case,  it  is  far  easier  and 
more- logical,  to  account  for  the  origin  of  the  system,  on  the  hy- 
pothesis of  a  divine  Revelation,  than  on  that  of  human  invention 
and  imposture.  If  the  Christian  be  esteemed  credulous  and  super- 
stitious, in  receiving  as  divine,  what  the  light  of  nature,  the 
revelations  of  science  and  human  experience  have  more  and  more 
confirmed,  the  infidel  defies  reason,  by  a  creed  of  contradictions 
to  its  teachings,  and  disgraces  Faith  by  a  subscription  to  para- 
doxes, more  preposterous  than  prophecy  and  more  marvellous  than 
miracles.  The  infidel  must  believe  that  predictions,  with  which 
iiistory,  written  by  neither  Jews  nor  Christians,  affords  numerous 
striking  coincidences,  were  merely  shrewd  guesses,  and  these,  for 
the  most  part,  guesses  of  men  as  devoid  of  political  sagacity  as, 
by  the  infidel's  theory,  of  moral  principle.    As  a  specia  en  of  puch 


376  POPULAR   OBJECTIONS   TO   CHRISTIANITY. 

predictions  take  one  of  the  earliest,  fullest  and  raoet  minute,  that 
respecting  the  fate  of  the  Jews.  It  was  foretold  that  they  should 
be  dispersed  among  all  nations,  be  a  proverb  and  a  bye-word,  and 
their  sufferings  and  persecutions,  involving  various  improbable 
and  minute  events,  are  detailed  with  the  scrupulous  exactness  of 
an  annalist.  History  has  returned  a  most  uncompromisingly  ac- 
curate fulfilment.  Unprecedented  and  paradoxical  has  been  the 
fate  of  this  people.  Without  temple  or  altar,  a  king,  a  priest  oi 
a  prophet,  unchanging  they  have  endured  all  change,  and  remain 
to  our  day,  distinct,  in  the  practice  of  tiie  religious  rites  received 
by  their  fathers.  Other  races  have  melted  away  or  been  merged 
into  each  other,  in  spite  of  every  effort  to  prevent  such  a  fate, 
while  the}  have  remained  separate,  with  every  effort  to  dena- 
tionaUze  them.  The  infidel  must  believe  that  from  a  compara- 
tively rude  and  uncultivated  people,  a  horde  of  untutored  shep- 
herds, but  just  escaped  from  a  cruel  and  oppressive  bondage, 
without  philosophy,  science,  or  literature,  we  have  obtained  the 
only  clear  and  consistent  account  of  the  origin  of  the  world,  the 
most  sublime  and  rational,  and  only  worthy  views  of  the  Divine 
Being  and  attributes,  and  the  purest  principles  of  law,  for  regu- 
lating his  worship,  and  the  duties  and  relations  of  mankind.  He 
must  believe,  that  men  were  found  among  the  Jews,  capable  of 
instructing  the  world  in  these  great  truths,  while  the  enlightened 
nations  of  antiquity,  though  justly  celebrated  for  affording  models 
of  eloquence,  poetry,  statuary,  and  architecture,  as  well  as  sound 
principles  of  natural  and  moral  science,  have,  in  their  highest 
stages  of  advancement,  provided  mankind  with  the  most  silly 
legends,  puerile  traditions  and  absurd  theories  on  the  world's  origin 
and  the  first  principles  of  religion.  As  to  the  New  Testament,  the 
infidel  must  believe,  that  a  few  obscure,  ignorant,  illiterate  fisher- 
men, "  the  scum  of  a  nation,  itself  the  scum  of  the  world,"  so 
imposed  on  the  senses  of  men,  including  foes  as  well  as  friends, 
that  their  "cunningly  devised"  tricks  were  acknowledged  to  be 
the  most  astounding  miracles,  the  witnesses  only  differing  in 
opinion  of  the  power  by  which  they  were  wrought,  whether  de- 
rived from  heaven  or  hell.  Or  if  it  be  contended,  that  the  nar- 
ratives of  the  New  Testament  were  composed  at  a  later  period 
than  that  assigned  by  Christian  writers,  then  must  the  infidel  be- 
lieve an  absurdity  still  greater.  For  by  rigid  investigation  into 
their  literary  history,  these  narratives  are  brought  within  thirty 
or  forty  years  of  the  period  whose  wonders  they  detail ;  and  with 


POPULAR  OBJECTIONS  TO   CHRISTIANITY.  377 

numberless  minute  circumstances  of  times,  places  and  persons, 
forming  salient  points  for  detection,  were  exposed  to  the  rigid  crit- 
icisms of  a  most  malignant  and  inveterate  opposition.  Yet  with 
accessible  testimonies,  in  some  cases  as  reliable  as  the  senses,  in 
all,  removed  but  one  step  from  their  certainties,  by  which  these 
narratives  might  have  been  branded  as  the  fables  of  fools  or  the 
forgeries  of  knaves,  mankind  perversely  determined  to  believe 
them  to  be  true,  and  after  centuries  of  laborious  effort,  by  the  most 
minute  criticism,  this  most  wonderful  literary  forgery  has  not 
only  survived,  unscathed,  all  attacks  made  upon  it,  but  been 
transmitted  to  our  day,  with  accumulating  evidences  of  its  genu- 
ineness and  authenticity. 

And  since  the  authorship  of  the  New  Testament  cannot  be 
traced  to  any  hand,  competent,  humanly  speaking,  to  such  a  work, 
whether  the  infidel  assigns  it  to  one  set  of  impostors  or  another, 
he  must  believe,  that  they  have  portrayed  a  character  faultless 
and  unique  as  a  portrait,  beyond  all  precedent  pictures  of  the 
imagination,  the  most  self-consistent  and  natural  as  a  living 
example,  without  a  duplicate  in  all  the  histories  of  fact  or  the 
fancies  of  fiction.  He  must  believe,  that  not  only  one,  but  four 
persons  were  found  competent  to  the  wonderful  feat  of  represent- 
ing their  hero  in  actual  life,  and  while  so  diflfering  from  each 
other,  as  to  avoid  all  well-grounded  suspicion  of  collusion,  they 
have  evinced  the  same  originality  of  invention,  heavenly  purity 
of  thought  and  child-like  simplicity  of  style,  and  have  made  their 
Master,  in  the  sublimity  and  pathos  of  his  instructions,  purity  and 
beauty  of  his  life,  and  patience  and  dignity  of  his  sufferings, 
speak  and  act  in  a  manner  unprecedented  and  inimitable.  He 
must  believe,  that  they  succeeded  in  weaving  into  the  web  of  his 
history,  paragraphs  not  more  wonderful  for  their  avowals  of  divine 
origin,  than  for  their  susceptibility  of  a  translation  "  without  the 
loss  of  a  thought  or  a  grace"  into  the  language  of  every  nation  ; 
and  while  their  congruities  have  been  so  firmly  and  consistently 
knit  together  that  no  material  discrepancy  has  ever  rewarded  th.e 
most  diligent  scrutiny,  yet  the  whole  has  been  prepared  with  so 
little  marks  of  design,  that  these  congruities  are  often  only  ap- 
parent on  the  most  careful  study.  He  must  believe  that  the  early 
propagators  of  Christianity,  with  no  assignable  motive,  and  often 
against  every  assignable  motive,  persevered  in  imposing  an  as- 
tounding fraud  on  the  world,  and  cheerfully  braved  contempt, 
persecution,  infamy  and  exile,  the  scourge,  the  prison,  and  the 


878  POPULAR   OBJECTIONS  TO   CHRISTIANITY. 

cross,  to  niaiiitain  their  unprofitable  falsehoods.  He  must  believe, 
that  bigoted  as  they  previously  were  to  the  Jew's  religion,  ys 
then  popularly  understood,  they  underwent  all  these  dangers  to 
destroy  not  only  it,  but  every  other ;  that  without  arms,  wealth, 
or  political  power,  they  succeeded  in  establishing  a  system,  Vvhich 
contrary  to  all  precedents  in  the  history  of  religion,  transcended 
all  natural,  national  or  linguistic  boundaries,  and  yet  survives  all 
disasters,  defeats,  and  defections.  He  must  believe  that,  such  was 
the  constancy  of  these  conspirators  against  truth,  among  thou- 
sands, not  one  could  be  found,  even  of  those  who  abjured  the 
faith,  who  ever  exposed  the  fraud  or  unfolded  the  secrets  of  this 
moral  machinery  which  '•  turned  the  world  upside  down."  He 
must  believe,  that  with  all  their  villainy  they  preached  sincerity, 
that  charity  was  taught  by  bigots,  and  holiness  by  impostors,  and 
to  all  their  inconsistencies,  they  added  that  of  practising  what  they 
inculcated.  Finally,  must  the  infidel  beheve,  that  impostors,  by 
the  combined  power  of  pure  doctrines,  precepts  and  practices,  have 
fastened  on  the  best  part  of  the  world,  a  system,  more  powerful  in 
motives  than  all  law,  more  efficient  in  energies  than  all  enterprise, 
and  more  enduring  in  result  than  all  human  institutions.  Surely 
such  a  faith  is  a  definition  of  the  blindest  credulity. 

2.  There  is  a  large  number  of  objections  arising  from  the  miscon- 
ceptions or  misunderstandings  of  pardonable  or  culpable  ignorance, 
perversions  of  the  plain  meaning  or  misapprehensions  of  the  scope 
of  particular  parts  of  the  Scriptures,  and  the  malignity  of  self- 
conceited  scoffers,  swelled  with  the  pride  of  a  little  learning  and 
vain-glorious  of  its  display.  Such  are  readily  sot  aside  by  the  cor- 
rections of  knowledge,  and  a  careful  and  candid  estimate  of  the 
declarations  of  the  Scriptures.  We  present,  in  a  summary  man- 
ner, a  few  specimens,  the  facility  of  whose  confutation  may  be 
predicated  of  all  of  the  classes  they  represent. 

It  has  been  often  asserted,  that  the  ark  could  not  hold  its  al- 
leged contents.  Its  dimensions  were  450  feet  in  length,  75  in 
breadth,  and  45  in  depth,  by  modern  calculation,  of  a  capacity 
equal  to  32,000  tons,  equivalent  to  that  of  sixteen  large  ships  of 
war.  Eight  persons,  250  pair  of  quadrupeds,  to  which  number 
the  various  species  of  such  animals  has  been  reduced,  a  fewer 
number  of  birds,  with  ail  the  rest  of  the  living  contents,  and  suf- 
ficient provision  for  a  year,  might  surely  find  space  in  a  vessel, 
which  would  have  contained  twelve  or  fifteen  thousand  men  and 
provisions  for  eighteen  months. 


POPULAR  OBJECTIONS  TO   CHRISTIANITY,  379 

The  Scriptures  are  accused  of  containing  many  very  indelicate 
passages.  But  when  we  bear  in  mind  that  they  profess  to  detail 
facts,  that  the  opinions  of  men  vary,  in  different  ages,  respecting 
what  is  indehcate,  and  that  the  record  in  the  Bible  does  not  excite 
in  our  minds,  as  that  of  novels  and  romances  may,  any  corres- 
ponding sinful  emotions,  but  on  the  contrary,  is  calculated  to  pro- 
duce an  opposite  influence,  no  great  weight  can  be  attached  to 
this  objection. 

The  curses  and  imprecations  of  the  Psalms  and  other  parts  of 
the  Old  Testament,  are  adduced  as  inconsistent  with  the  charac- 
ter of  a  work  proceeding  from  God.  Not  to  urge,  that  by  a  legiti- 
mate rendering  of  such  passages,  the  expressions  now  appearing 
in  an  imperative  mood,  would  lose  their  objectionable  features  in 
the  future  tense,  it  may  be  replied,  that  God,  as  a  righteous  judge, 
might  delegate  to  his  inspired  servants, his  acknowledged  preroga- 
tive of  calling  down  on  his  enemies  the  curses  to  which  they  may 
have  rendered  themselves  obnoxious. 

Philosophers  so  called,  sneeringly  remind  us,  that  there  were 
doubtless  rainbows  before  the  Flood,  and  hence  Moses'  statement, 
"I  do  se-t  my  bow  in  the  cloud,"  implying  its  first  appearance,  is  a 
most  unfortunate  blunder.  But  a  tyro  in  Hebrew  will  inform  us, 
that  "I  appoint  my  bow,"  is  as  lawful  a  translation,  and  thus  re- 
lieve the  philosophers  of  their  kind  concern  for  Moses. 

Pretended  antiquarians  having  identified  no  bricks  from  the 
tower  of  Babel,  assure  us,  that  Moses'  narrative  of  its  erection,  is 
to  be  classed  with  the  fabulous  legends  of  the  old  world.  We 
might  simply  ask  for  some  valid  reason  for  discrediting  the  Pen- 
tateuch. Strabo  and  Herodotus,  however,  have  furnished  some 
memoranda  of  the  existence  in  Chaldea,  of  a  tower  called  Belus, 
having  walks  upon  it,  along  which  two  chariots  could  drive 
abreast. 

Various  mistakes,  contradictions  and  inconsistencies  have  been 
industriously  culled  from  the  pages  of  inspiration,  and  trium- 
phantly paraded  as  conclusive  vouchers  for  the  human  origin  of 
the  Bible.  That  a  book,  whose  most  modern  parts  are  nearly 
eighteen  centuries  old,— written  in  languages,  of  which  one  has 
been  dead  for  2500  years,  describing  a  very  ancient  people,  of 
dissimilar  customs  from  ours,  and  of  very  peculiar  history  ;— and 
which  has  passed  through  many  hands,  and  been  often  copied, 
should  present  no  literal  and  verbal  inaccuracies,  would  indeed 
argue  a  miraculous  preservation.     But  what  is  the  amounl  uf  a!l 


380  POPULAR  OBJECTIONS  TO   CHRISTIANITY. 

the  alleged  inaccuracies?  Their  historical  and  rhetorical  effects 
do  not  alter  a  material  fact  of  history,  or  modify  a  rule  of  good 
writing,  and  their  moral  have  never  influenced  the  nature  of  a 
doctrine  or  the  character  of  a  precept.  The  Hebrews  and  Greeks 
used  letters  in  computation.  It  so  happens  that  the  numeral 
value  of  very  similar  letters  was  often  different.  Thus  40  and 
400,  2  and  20,  4  and  200  are  pairs  of  examples  of  this,  in  the 
Hebrew,  and  3  and  6  in  the  Greek.  This  simple  fact  resolves  a 
number  of  alleged  contradictions  and  errors,  since  the  mistake 
of  a  transcriber,  in  the  matter  of  a  line,  one  fiftieth  of  an  inch 
long,  might  produce  a  considerable  error  in  numbers.  The  ac- 
counts of  John  and  Mark  respecting  our  Saviour's  crucifixion  are 
different.  John  says  it  took  place  at  the  sixth  hour,  Mark  says 
the  third.  Both  might  have  used  the  letter  whose  numeral  value 
is  6,  and  the  copyist  of  Mark  may  have  made  it  a  3. 

Sometimes  one  writer  gives  the  round  nimiber,  and  another^ 
more  accurately,  furnishes  the  additional  fractional  number.  One 
says  our  Saviour's  transfiguration  occurred  "about  eight  days 
after."  Another  says  it  was  "  after  six  days."  The  former  in- 
cluded the  preceding  and  subsequent  day. 

A  contradiction  in  different  narrations  of  the  same  event  is  often 
easily  reconciled  by  a  little  care  in  comparing  the  passages.  Moses 
makes  Jacob's  family  which  went  to  Egypt  sixty-six,  or,  adding 
Jacob,  Joseph  and  his  two  sons,  seventy.  Stephen,  in  Acts  vii.  14, 
states  the  number  of  the  family  at  seventy-five.  Now  it  will  be 
observed,  that  Moses  expressly  excepts  the  wives  of  Jacob's  sons, 
and  gives  "sixty-six"  as  the  number  of  his  descendants  who  ivent 
with  him.  Stephen  says  Joseph  "sent  for  his  father  Jacob  and 
all  his  kindred,  seventy-five  souls."  In  this  were  the  sixty-six 
actual  descendants  of  Jacob,  and  the  nine  wives  of  his  sons,  then 
living  with  him,  who,  as  part  of  ^'  his  ki7idrcd"  make  up  seventy- 
five.  Thus,  passages,  once  contradictory  (apparently),  are  evinced 
to  be  critically  correspondent. 

The  kings  of  the  Jews  often  commenced  their  reigns  during 
those  of  their  fathers,  or  other  predecessors,  and  sometimes  one 
writer  dates  from  the  collegiate,  and  another  from  the  sole  succes- 
sion. In  genealogies,  apparent  errors  are  removed  by  the  well- 
known  facts,  that  one  person  sometimes  had  two  names, — as  to 
this  day  we  speak  of  Cicero  by  the  name  of  Tully. — sometimes 
the  same  name  belonged  to  two  persons,  and  names  often  appear 
with  various  spcUingS;  by  translations  into  other  languages,  or  by 


POPULAR  OBJECTIONS  TO  CHRISTIANITY.  381 

errors  of  copyists.  The  genealogy  of  our  Saviour  is  twice  given  ; 
but  that  of  Luke  is  evidently  a  tracing  of  his  lineage  through  his 
mother.  He  is  said  to  have  been  as  "  was  supposed,  the  son  of 
Joseph,  who  was  the  son  of  Heli,"  (fcc.  Now  the  words  "  the  son" 
before  Heli,  are  supplied  by  the  translators,  and  might  as  well 
have  been,  "  the  son-in-law."  The  custom  of  the  Jews  was  to 
keep  registers,  and  from  them  the  evangelists  doubtless  compiled 
the  genealogy.  Other  explanations  of  the  phraseology  here  used 
have  been  given,  but  all  coincide  in  the  very  natural  and  easy 
resolution  of  the  difficulty,  by  adopting  this  as  the  register  of 
Mary's  ancestry. 

Thus  we  see  how  readily  the  Scriptures  may  be  relieved  from 
the  many  petty  objections,  of  which  fair  specimens  have  been  pre- 
sented. There  are  some  indeed  too  trivial  for  notice,  such  as  the 
sneer  on  Moses  for  using  the  third  person  in  speaking  of  himself, 
of  which  CcEsar  was  notoriously  guilty,— and  the  celebrated  soph- 
ism, that  contradictions  are  inferable  when  one  writer  omits  what 
another  relates,  of  which  the  abridgers  of  Dion  Cassius  furnish 
samples.  For  these  contributions  to  the  rules  of  writing  and  in- 
terpreting history,  the  world  is  indebted  to  the  author  of  the  "Age 
of  Reason;"  whether  the  discovery  was  original,  we  do  not  under- 
take to  say. 

3.  One  of  the  most  prolific  themes  of  a  declamatory  denuncia- 
tion of  Christianity  is  furnished  by  the  existence  of  mysteries. 
The  doctrines  of  the  Trinity,  the  Incarnation  and  the  Divine  De- 
cree are  cited  as  special  illustrations  of  this  objection. 

(1.)  Mystery  is  properly  opposed  to  explanation.  The  mspired 
volume  is  not  necessarily  precluded  from  containing  mysteries,  of 
whose  existence  it  may  be  a  part  of  inspiration  to  inform  us. 
The  sacred  writers  have  nowhere  professed  to  explain  everything 
connected  with  the  divine  nature  and  economy.  God's  plan  of 
redemption  was  called  a  mystery,  because  not  fully  explained, 
though  a  matter  of  inspiration,  of  which  a  record  was  made.  We 
readily  concede  that  the  mysteries  of  the  Bible  are  "great,"  and 
many  things  are  presented  which  we  cannot  fully  comprehend. 

(2.)  But  while  above  reason,  these  mysteries  are  not  necessarily 

inconsistent  with  reason.     By  the  very  nature  of  the  case,  this  is 

more  than  we  can  assert,  since  reason  has  been  furnished  with  no 

materials  for  forming  an  opinion.     Thus  the   mysteries  of  the 

..P^'rinity  and   the   Incarnation    arise  from  our  ignorance  of  the 

,^ode  of  divine  existence,  and  that  of  the  Decree  from  our  igno- 


POPULAR   OBJECTIONS  TO   CHRISTIANITY. 

ranee  of  the  mode  of  the  divine  government  of  free  agents.  To 
a  school-boy  Newton's  philosophy  may  be  above  reason,  but  can- 
not be  said  to  be  opposed  to  his  reason,  for  on  account  of  ignorance 
and  immaturity  his  reason  cannot  be  exercised  on  its  principles. 

(3.)  The  constitution  and  course  of  things  in  this  world,  not 
only  raise  a  presumption  that  mysteries  might  be  expected  in  a 
divine  revelation;  but  ought  to  reconcile  us  to  their  existence.  In 
the  words  of  the  inspired  penman,  "God  doeth  great  things,  which 
we  cannot  comprehend.  Dost  thou  know  the  balancings  of  the 
clouds  ?  Can  any  understand  their  spreadings,  or  the  noise  of  his 
tabernacle?  Who  hath  laid  the  measures  of  the  earth,  or  who 
hath  stretched  the  line  upon  it?  Whereupon  are  the  foundations 
thereof  fastened?  Where  is  the  way  where  light  dwelleth?  and 
as  for  darkness,  where  is  the  place  thereof?  Hast  thou  entered 
into  the  treasures  of  the  snow?  or  hast  thou  seen  the  treasures  of 
the  hail?  Hath  the  rain  a  father?  or  who  hath  begotten  the 
drops  of  dew  ?  Canst  thou  bind  the  sweet  influences  of  Pleiades, 
or  loose  the  bands  of  Orion?  Knowest  thou  the  ordinances  of 
heaven?  Who  hath  pat  wisdom  in  the  inward  parts?  or  who 
hath  given  understanding  to  the  heart?  Dost  thou  know  the 
wondrous  works  of  Him,  who  is  perfect  in  knowledge?"*  Our 
daily  and  important  duties,  labors,  studies,  relaxation,  nourish- 
ment, rest,  motion,  pain  and  pleasure,  are  all  connected  with  iiiost 
intricate  and  perplexing  m5'^steries.  We  know  the  laws  of  motion, 
but  of  its  real  nature  are  profoundly  ignorant.  The  formation 
of  our  bodies,  the  process  of  vegetation,  the  combination  of  in- 
stinct with  brute  forms,  or  of  mind  with  human,  the  power  of  a 
wound  to  inflict  pain,  the  odor  of  plants,  the  nature  of  chemical 
combinations,  the  structure  of  a  worm,  the  tint  of  a  violet,  the 
painting  of  a  rose,  the  source  of  an  aerolite,  the  origin  of  an 
earthquake,  and  hundreds  of  similar  subjects,  are  full  of  inexpli- 
cable wonders.  What  is  heat?  light?  electricity?  magnetism? 
If  gravitation  binds  planets  to  a  centre,  what  binds  the  centre  to 
its  place?  We  can  know  something  of  the  habits  of  various  ani- 
mals, but  who  knows  how  those  habits  are  formed  ?  How,  in  the 
vast  numbers  of  the  irrational  creation  is  knowledge  imparted  and 
obtained?  Why  does  the  sensitive  plant  recoil  at  our  touch? 
Why  does  the  graft  perpetuate  its  kind,  and  not  that  of  the  stock 
on  which  it  feeds?  Why  do  plants  seek  the  light,  the  sun-flower, 
more  devotional  than  man.  ever  bow  towards  his  god,  as  he  makes 
*  From  chaps.  S'Zth  and  38th  of  Job. 
• 


POPULAR  OBJECTIONS  TO   CHRISTIANITY.  388 

the  circuit  of  the  heavens?  Of  all  the  wonders  of  nature,  man 
is  the  greatest.  We  can  describe  his  frame,  with  its  muscles  and 
veins,  arteries  and  blood,  bones  and  flesh,  but  what  gives  motion 
and  power  to  them  all  ?  Who  has  touched  the  quick,  and  searched 
out  the  hiding-place  of  animal  life?  And  when  all  nature  has 
been  explored,  let  us  question  the  explorer.  What  is  mind  ? 
whence  its  being?  when  and  how  united  with  the  body?  Is  it 
modified  matter,  or  is  matter  modified  thought?  Does  it  ever 
cease  to  think,  even  in  sleep?  Why  cannot  it  end  its  own  opera- 
tions? Is  not  then  its  essence  thought?  Does  it  know  in  what 
its  essence  consists?  Where  does  it  reside?  In  the  brain?  the 
chest?  or  the  whole  body?  anywhere?  nowhere?  And  what 
doubt  and  perplexity  hang  over  every  act  and  emotion  of  this 
most  mysterious,  most  consummately  curious  work  of  an  Al- 
mighty God !  Who  can  stop  his  own  breath,  or  check  the  throb- 
bing of  his  heart?  Who  can  explain  tlie  motion  of  a  finger,  or 
the  opening  of  the  eye?  "Man,"  says  one,  "essaying  to  know 
his  nature,  resembles  a  kitten  first  brought  before  a  mirror.  It 
jumps  over  it  and  behind  it,  frisks  and  twists  and  turns,  vainly 
striving  to  reach  the  fair  illusion,  (ill  at  length  in  weary  despair," 
it  demurely  retires  from  that  most  mysterious  enigma,  the  image 
of  itself. 

Yet  who  doubts  the  existence  of  the  natural  world,  and  that  of 
himself,  or  the  facts  adverted  to,  however  wonderful,  because  they 
involve  mysteries  ? 

He,  indeed,  who  rejects  any  doctrine  of  Revelation  or  Revealed 
Religion  itself,  on  account  of  mysterie3,  must,  to  be  consistent, 
cease  all  mental  and  physical  efforts,  till  satisfied,  by  explanations, 
of  the  mysteries  involved  in  these  efforts.  The  farmer  must  cease 
to  sow,  the  mechanic  to  labor,  and  the  philosopher  to  reason,  till 
they  fully  comprehend  the  inexplicable  wonders  of  the  earth,  the 
body,  and  the  mind.  We  must,  too,  reject  all  natural  religion. 
Is  the  Trinity  incomprehensible?  The  omniscience,  omnipresence, 
omnipotence,  yea,  self-existence  of  a  great  First  Cause,  are  no  less 
so.  Who.  by  searching,  can  find  out  God?  who  can  understand 
the  Almighty  to  perfection?  who  can  grasp  the  idea  of  an  exist- 
ence from  everlasting  to  everlasting?  who  can  comprehend  an 
omnipresence,  co-extensive  with  immensit}^,  an  omniscience,  co 
incident  with  every  event,  past,  present,  and  future,  intimate  witli 
myriads  of  agencies,  multiplied  by  myriads  of  creatures,  and  an 
omnipotence,  controlling  the  mighty  evolutions  of  the  physical 


384  POPULAR  OBJECTIONS  TO   CHRISTIANITY. 

universe,  and  the  yet  mightier,  more  complicated,  as  well  as  subtle 
powers  of  the  moral,  in  all  their  vast  influences,  in  all  worlds, 
through  time  and  eternity? 

The  difficulties  of  the  divine  decree  ultimately  resolve  them- 
selves into  the  insoluble  mystery,  that  God's  purposes  are  ac- 
complished, and  yet  free  agency  remains  unimpaired.  But  the 
mystery  is  not  a  teaching  peculiar  to  the  Bible.  If  we  believe 
there  is  a  God,  we  believe  he  acts  by  design  or  plan,  that  is, 
decrees  or  purposes  to  act  as  he  does.  For  the  evidences  of 
such  design  furnish  the  conclusive  proofs  of  his  existence.  But 
such  design,  includes  the  mutual  adaptations  of  all  the  parts  of 
individuals,  multiplied  by  those  of  a  number  of  individuals,  and 
these  by  those  of  the  species,  and  these  by  those  of  a  genus :  and 
then  again,  the  whole  are  multiplied  by  the  adaptations  of  the 
whole  material  universe  in  the  I'elations  of  its  myriads.  Connected 
with  this  vast  number,  in  which  each  minute  motion  of  the  mi- 
nutest insect  is  to  be  contemplated,  in  its  relations  to  all  the  rest 
of  the  world,  this  design  includes  all  mental  and  moral  agencies 
and  causes,  of  all  intelligent  beings  of  earth,  so  that  a  thought  or 
a  word,  even  of  the  humblest  child,  or  the  feeble  moan  of  an  un- 
conscious infancy,  forms  an  element  in  the  production  of  remote 
results.  Now  the  harmonious  relations  of  all  this  vast  and  com- 
plicated system  of  material  and  immaterial,  rational  and  irrational 
creation,  are  perpetuated  in  entire  consistency  with  free  agency. 
To  disconnect  any  part,  the  least,  of  this  wondrous  design,  from 
the  great  First  Cause,  is  to  destroy  the  proofs  of  his  Being,  since 
it  would  no  longer  be  his  design.  But  can  there  be  a  greater 
mystery  than  the  coexistence  of  such  design  and  free-agency? 
This  is  the  problem  common  to  the  Revelation  of  the  Bible  and 
the  Revelation  of  Nature.  Indeed  the  blank  and  cheerless  postu- 
lates of  Atheism  cannot  escape  the  charge  of  mystery.  What  more 
wonderful  than  a  creation  full  of  design  without  a  designer,  laws 
of  matter  without  a  lawgiver,  or  a  world  of  rational  beings,  ever 
seeking  a  God,  where  there  is  no  God?  What  so  wonderful  as 
chance  making  all  things,  when  it  cannot  build  a  cabin.  In 
short,  if  belief  is  to  be  repelled  by  mysteries,  there  is  no  prospect 
of  rest  to  ourselves,  short  of  stark  pyrrhonism,  a  negation  of  all 
belief,  the  belief  that  we  do  not  believe,  the  conviction  that  we  do 
not  exist.  These  "awful  and  gigantic  shadows"  will  probably 
never  be  entirely  cleared,  either  from  the  book  of  Revelation  or 
that  of  Nature.     A  Newton's  genius  cannot  explore  those  of  the 


POPULAR   OBJECTIONS   TO   CIIPJSTIAXITY.  385 

one,  nor  an  angel's  those  of  the  other.  Both  may  "  desire  to  look 
into  them,"  but  in  the  effort  to  sound  the  abyss,  are  lost  in  un- 
fathomable depths.  While  no  doctrine  suspends  its  instructions, 
and  no  precept  its  duties,  on  the  comprehension  of  mysteries,  let 
us  desist,  alike  from  vain  speculation  and  wicked  cavils,  and  "  be- 
lieve and  wonder,  love  and  adore." 

4.  Objections  to  the  divine  origin  of  the  Scriptures,  based  on 
their  alleged  contradictions  of  moralit}^,  in  the  conduct  of  God  him- 
self, or  of  persons  acting  by  his  authority,  deserve  a  brief  notice. 

(1.)  God's  treatment  of  Pharaoh,  according  to  the  Mosaic  ac- 
count, is  regarded  as  an  infringement  of  the  principles  of  justice, 
in  that  he  hardened  Pharaoh's  heart  and  then  destroyed  him  for 
impenitence.  Attending  to  the  order  of  the  narrative,  we  find  that 
Pharaoh  first  hardened  his  own  heart,  by  rejecting  God's  authority. 
God's  previous  revelation  to  Moses,  that  he  would  harden  the  heart 
of  Pharaoh,  could  not,  of  course,  influence  him,  and  indeed,  may 
be  no  more  than  an  intimation  of  his  purpose  to  set  before  him  the 
admonitions  and  warnings,  by  which  God  knew  he  would  harden 
himself  This  was  not  their  necessary  effect.  But  remembering 
that  Pharaoh  had  rejected  the  divine  message  and  aggravated  his 
previous  impiety,  God  was  justified  in  his  punishment,  and  select- 
ing his  own  method,  he  made  sin  its  own  punishment.  Men  now 
meet  the  same  result  by  persevering  in  evil  courses. 

(2.)  As  to  the  immorality  recorded  of  God's  servants  or  the 
instruments  selected  to  accomplish  his  purposes,  a  few  general 
principles  will  cover  all  important  cases.  The  sacred  writers  are 
responsible  for  the  facts  they  record  and  not  the  character  of  those 
facts,  and  their  simplicity  and  impartiality  in  recording  the  faults 
as  well  as  virtues  of  their  heroes,  should  commend  their  credibility. 
The  cruelties,  perfidies,  and  barbarities  of  the  age,  delineated  in 
the  history  of  the  Jews,  are  relieved  by  instances  of  generosity. 
kindness,  and  pity,  seldom  found  in  the  history  of  other  nations 
of  the  same  period.  While  the  Mosaic  code  presents  enactments 
of  great  severity,  it  must  be  remembered,  that  it  was  drawn  for  a 
people  on  the  verge  of  civilization,  and  withal,  has  furnished  to 
the  world,  some  of  the  best  and  most  enduring  principles  of  wise 
government.  We  may  briefly  notice,  some  particular  instances  of 
immorahty,  alleged  to  have  been  countenanced  by  God.  Though 
guilty  of  murder  and  adultery,  we  are  told  that  David  is  pro- 
nounced a  "  man  after  God's  heart."  But  this  was  said  of  him  in 
comparison  with  Saul,  as  to  his  official  conduct  and  station..    His 

25 


oS6  POPULAR    OBJECTIONS   TO   CHRISTIANITY. 

sins  are  mentioned  with  marked  disapproval,  and  met  a  severe 
punishment.  Rahab's  faith  in  the  divine  promise  and  her  conceal- 
ment of  the  spies,  and  the  '•  fear  of  God"  evinced  by  the  Hebrew 
niidwives,  and  not  the  deception  of  the  one  case  and  the  evasions 
and  prevarications  of  the  other,  are  mentioned  with  approbation. 
Ehud  and  Jael  were  both  guilty  of  treachery  and  perhaps  deceit 
— certainly  of  murder.  They  were  instruments  of  God,  for  deliv- 
ering the  Israelites  from  oppression.  The  conduct  of  the  former 
is  merely  stated,  and  the  approval  of  that  of  the  latter,  by  the  pro- 
phetess Deborah,  is  restricted  to  the  act  of  destroying  a  tyrant. 
God  may  have  commissioned  each  as  his  agent,  and  left  them,  as 
he  does  and  often  has  done,  to  select  their  methods  of  service. 
Such  examples  are  not  propounded  for  imitation,  unless  we  were 
placed  in  circumstances  of  similarly  extraordinary  character. 

(3.)  There  are  several  cases,  in  which  conduct  deemed  immoral, 
is  expressly  averred  to  have  been  authorized  by  God.  Thus  the 
judgments  on  Korah  and  his  company,  on  idolaters,  on  the  forty- 
two  little  children,  and  on  the  various  heathen  nations  of  Canaan, 
are  cited.  God  was  the  head  of  the  Jewish  nation,  and  idolatry 
or  other  sins  were  punished  by  him,  with  marked  severity,  in  vin- 
dication of  his  prerogative  and  for  pieserving  the  purity  of  his 
truth  and  worship.  Korah  and  his  company  perished  for  a  wilful, 
presumptuous,  and  daring  act  of  disobedience.  The  "forty-two 
little  children,"  may  have  been, by  as  proper  a  translation,  youths, 
and  in  this  event,  knew  better  than  to  revile  God  in  the  person 
of  his  inspired  messenger.  Accepting  the  translation  of  little  chil- 
dren, it  was  a  punishment  on  the  parents,  and  like  God's  judg- 
ments of  a  similar  character  in  our  day,  must  be  resolved  into  the 
exercise  of  his  divine  sovereignty. 

The  various  nations  of  Canaan  were  intruders  on  the  soil  of  the 
promised  land,  and  besides  were  deservedly  objects  of  divine  dis- 
pleasure. We  are  told  that  so  great  were  their  iniquities,  the  land 
was  ready  to  vomit  them  forth  as  the  stomach  rejects  a  deadly 
poison.  We  acknowledge  the  righteousness,  notwithstanding  the 
severit}'^,  of  the  punishment  of  sin  under  every  government.  God 
often  employs  earthquakes  and  volcanoes,  hurricanes,  pestilence, 
and  famine,  and  as  in  this  case,  bloody  and  destructive  wars,  to 
execute  his  purposed  judgments.  The  Jews  were  the  instruments 
of  his  hand,  and  only  in  part.  They  are  often  reminded  of  his 
extraordinary  interventions  in  their  behalf,  and  the  "stars  in  their 


POPULAR   OBJECTIONS  TO   CHRISTIANITY.  387 

courses,"  the  fierce  insect  and  the  hail  were  commissioned  to  aid 
in  driving  out  the  nations  whose  iniquities  were  full. 

5.  We  are  told  that  it  is  inconsistent  with  the  character  of  God 
to  punish  his  frail  creatures,  eternally,  for  a  few  sins  committed  in 
this  world. 

Deists  have  acknowledged  that  the  doctrine  of  future  re- 
wards and  punishments  forms  a  valuable  incentive  to  virtue  and 
preventive  of  vice.  The  enhancement  of  the  sanction,  by  invest- 
ing the  reward  and  punishment  with  the  attribute  of  eternity, 
ought  not,  of  itself,  to  form  an  objection.  But  since  the  alleged 
disproportion  of  sin  and  its  punishment  is  the  gist  of  the  diffi- 
culty, it  may  be  remarked  :  (1.)  That  equally  disproportionate  is 
virtue  and.  its  reward,  to  which  none  object.  (2.)  That  if  it  be 
said,  virtue  brings  its  own  reward,  and  being  intrinsically  a 
source  of  happiness,  must  perpetuate  that  happiness  indefinitely, 
so  may  sin,  by  its  nature,  ever  remove  the  sinner  farther  from 
God,  which  will  be  one  chief  element  of  his  misery,  and  thus 
perpetuate  that  misery  indefinitely.  (3.)  That  according  to  the 
constitution  of  nature,  comparatively  unimporta'.U  acts  or  trifling 
words  are  often  followed  by  a  train  of  evils  lasting  as  life,  and 
enduring  through  generations.  (4.)  And  after  all,  we  are  by  no 
means  competent  to  decide  on  the  merit  or  demerit  of  conduct, 
whose  consequences  we  cannot  calculate — ^whose  motives  are  un- 
known and  the  rules  of  whose  approval  or  condemnation,  none 
but  a  God  of  infinite  wisdom  and  holiness  can  properly  establish. 
To  these  considerations,  may  be  added  the  well-known  fact,  that 
whencesoever  derived,  the  idea  of  such  punishment  did  not  ap- 
pear repugnant  to  the  moral  sentiments  of  the  heathen  Greeks 
and  Romans,  in  whose  mythologies  we  find  it  incorporated  and 
illustrated  in  the  well-known  fables  of  Sisyphus  and  Tantalus. 

6.  Those  who  affect  a  peculiarly  proper  estimate  of  human 
"  Progress"  and  "  Development,"  in  a  free  inquiry  after  truth, 
speak  contemptuously  and  disparagingly  of  what  they  term  a 
"  stereotyped"  Revelation — or  revelation  in  a  book,  as  calculated 
to  cramp  man's  powers  and  bind  us,  of  this  enlightened  period, 
to  the  antiquated  dogmas  of  a  primitive  and  unpolished  age  of 
the  world. 

(1.)  Moral  truth  is,  in  its  nature,  permanent,  and  its  principles 
are  immutable  and  perpetually  applicable.  As  to  the  recorded 
facts  of  the  Bible,  the  progress  of  knowledge  is  affording  increas- 
ing evidence  of  their  accuracy,  and  the  investigations  and  dis- 


388  POPULAR   OBJECTIONS  TO   CHRISTIANITY. 

coveiies  of  science,  are  strengthening  the  conviction,  that  the 
voice  of  nature  confirms  the  utterances  of  that  of  Revelation. 
In  the  intellectual  character  of  Bible  truth,  we  discover  depths  in 
vi'hich  giants  may  swim,  as  Avell  as  shoals  where  infants  may- 
wade.  In  the  natural  world,  most  of  those  truths,  important  for 
man's  daily  business,  are  comparatively  plain ;  yet  there  are 
materials,  on  which  his  powers  of  discovery  and  invention  may 
be  exercised  with  no  assignable  limit.  So  the  Scriptures,  while 
affording  readily,  all  truth  that  is  material  and  essential,  cast  up, 
as  it  were,  on  the  surface,  present  a  sufficient  compass  for  the 
most  vigorous  and  extensive  researches  of  the  human  mind,  in 
unlocking  and  unfolding  the  treasuries  of  divine  wisdom.  It  is 
not  probable,  that  any  truth  essential  to  man's  physical  neces- 
sities, remains  undiscerned,  in  the  volume  of  nature,  or  any 
essential  to  his  spiritual,  in  that  of  Revelation ;  yet  many,  highly 
important  for  the  confirmation  and  proper  elucidation  of  truths 
already  discerned,  may  yet  be  discovered  in  both  :  and  the  book 
of  Revelation,  as  well  as  nature,  may  yet  be  sufficient  to  employ 
the  most  exalted  intellect,  even  in  the  extreme  "  progress  of  de- 
velopment." 

(2.)  We  know  that  without  "  books"  as  a  means  of  perpetuat- 
ing and  diffusing  thought,  man  would  be  little  better  than  a  sav- 
age. It  is,  surely,  very  accordant  with  this  actual  state  of  the 
world,  that  Revelation  should  be  communicated  as  other  valuable 
truth.  It  is  very  credible,  tliat  he  who  has  given  a  Revelation, 
would  adapt  it  to  all  ages  and  states  of  the  world,  and  if  true, 
the  sooner  it  be  made  permanent  the  better. 

7.  The  Mosaic  account  of  the  creation  and  fall  of  man,  or  the 
origin  of  evil,  has  been  the  theme  of  much  cavil,  sneering  and 
ridicule. 

(I.)  The  vindication  of  Scripture  from  the  charge  of  inconsis- 
tency with  the  truths  of  science,  especially  as  they  affect  the  ac- 
count of  creation,  having  fallen  into  other  hands,  in  the  course 
of  these  Lectures,  we  pass  over  the  subject  with  one  remark. 
We  may  safely  abide  the  decisions  of  competent  and  impartial 
judges,  on  a  comparison  of  this  account  with  the  various  absurd 
cosmogonies  and  puerile  stories  of  other  writers,  whether  ancient 
or  modern. 

(2.)  The  division  of  the  creative  process  into  periods,  finds  a 
beautiful  and  striking  analogy  in  that  course  of  nature,  according 
to  which,  we  discover  a  certain  system  or  order,  prevalent  in  all 


POPULAR   OBJECTIONS  TO   CURISTIANITY.  389 

the  works  of  God.  That  God  is  said  to  have  vested  on  the  sev- 
enth day,  is  one  of  scores  of  instances  in  which  the  sacied  writers 
accommodate  to  our  finite  faculties,  their  representations  of  tlie 
mode  of  divine  thinking,  speaking-,  and  acting.  Objections  to 
such  representations  have  been  made,  on  the  ground  that  they 
are  debasing  to  Go3,  who  is  thus  made  subject  to  our  passions 
and  infirmities.  But  those  who  make  them  can  find  no  better 
mode  of  presenting  intelligent  views  of  the  divine  nature  and 
attributes,  and  the  explanation  given  ought  to  relieve  this  and 
all  similar  passages,  of  all  liableness  to  any  other  than  absurd 
criticism. 

That  man  was  created  full-grown  in  body,  and  not  an  infant 
or  a  child,  is  not  only  consistent  with  all  else  of  the  divine  work, 
but  commends  itself  as  highly  proper ;  and  that  he  was  not  left 
an  overgrown  child  in  intellect,  is  at  once,  agreeable  to  the 
analogy  of  the  physical  perfection  of  the  universe,  and  suitable  to 
the  duties  on  which  he  was  required  immediately  to  enter. 

(3.)  The  odigin  of  evil  is  the  dread  mystery  of  time,  the  "  abyss 
into  which  nearly  all  theological  diflBculties  at  last  disembogue 
themselves,"  the  enigma  compared  with  which,  and  without 
which,  all  other  enigmas  are  trifles.  The  Scripture  account  of 
this,  both  as  to  mode  and  fact,  is  the  great  stumbling-block  of 
skepticism. 

A  few  words  as  to  the  agents  in  this  awful  drama,  are  suflfi- 
cient.  He  who  could  create  a  world,  could  endow  the  serpent 
with  speech,  and  subject  it  to  the  influence  of  a  spiritual  being. 
How  the  animal  previously  moved,  or  with  what  physical  changes 
it  was  affected  after  the  Fall,  are  useless  questions.  That  it  was 
peculiarly  doomed,  in  the  curse  which  fell  on  all  creation,  is  ac- 
cordant with  analogy,  in  that  the  irresponsible  instruments  or 
agents  in  man's  sin,  often  suffer  more  than  others,  the  penalties 
of  his  guilt.  The  permission  to  Satan  to  tempt  Adam,  no  more 
involves  God  in  his  sin,  than  does  the  existence  of  a  state  of  trial 
in  this  world,  implicate  its  author  in  the  evils  which  it  may  or 
does  occasion.  Of  all  tests,  that  submitted  to  man  was  the 
fairest.  There  was  the  least  temptation,  counterbalanced  by  the 
heaviest  penalty.  So  far  as  we  can  know,  had  man  been  con- 
stituted impeccable,  or  subjected  to  no  test  of  obedience,  there 
had  been  no  way  in  which  he  could  have  evinced  virtuous  prin- 
ciple. Angels  are  the  only  other  intelligent  creatures  of  whom 
we   have   any  account,  and  as  they  sinned,  we  infer  they  were 


390  POPULAR  OBJECTIONS  TO   CHRISTIANITY. 

also  put  upon  a  probation.  Man  was  either  constituted  as 
alleged,  and  fell,  or  constituted  a  sinner,  which  no  consistent 
deist  will  aver.  It  becomes  those  who  object  to  the  Scripture  rep- 
resentation, to  show  some  other  mode  of  constituting  a  free  agent, 
competent  to  divine  power  and  consistent  with  the  divine  wisdom  ; 
and  this  cannot  be  done  till  man  can  measure  omnipotence  and 
compass  infinity. 

There  are  other  difficulties  connected  with  this  subject,  which 
lie  back  of  Revelation,  and  whose  solution  is  involved  in  that  of 
a  mystery  already  mentioned, — God's  government  of  free  agents, 
so  that  his  decree  does  not  impair  their  freedom,  nor  affect  their 
responsibility.  Thus,  why  is  there  any  evil?  Did  God  prede- 
termine it?  Was  his  purpose  or  plan  frustrated  or  fulfilled  by  its 
entrance?  How  is  man  responsible  for  what  he  was  created  to 
perform?  The  answer  to  these,  and  many  other  similar  ques- 
tions, easily  asked,  has  been  given.  Our  reason  has  no  materials 
for  the  decision.  These  matters  are  above  it.  Our  province  is 
to  vindicate  what  God  has  revealed,  by  showing  its  congruity  with 
the  discoveries  and  teachings  of  reason,  exercised  on  the  constitu- 
tion and  course  of  nature.  Here  are  found  evidences  of  man's 
fall  and  its  consequences,  palpable  to  its  perceptions :  and  here 
are  held  forth  hopes  of  a  possible  remedy,  though  reason,  unpro- 
vided with  the  means  of  accurate  knowledge,  may  fail  to  desig- 
nate the  precise  character  of  that  remedy. 

Along  with  abundant  indications  of  a  primitive  beauty  and 
goodness  in  the  natural  world,  there  are  equally  clear  indications, 
that  the  beautiful  and  the  good  have  been  marred  and  defaced. 
In  the  midst  of  order  we  observe  disorder.  Seasons,  suns  and 
systems,  the  animal,  vegetable  and  mineral  kingdoms,  are  gov- 
erned by  wise  and  fixed  laws.  Yet  storm  and  tempest,  plague 
and  pestilence,  desolated  shores,  vast  and  arid  deserts,  rock-bound 
coasts,  shipwreck  and  hurricane,  proclaim  this  earth  to  be  the 
object  and  scene  of  some  potent  curse.  The  extinction  of  the 
generator  is  the  price  of  reproduction.  The  existence  of  the  off- 
spring is  often  purchased  by  the  death  of  the  parent.  Adversity 
is  the  fruit  of  prosperity.  As  each  day  closes  in  the  darkness  of 
night,  so  ruin  and  decay,  with  effacing  fingers,  follow  loveliness 
and  health.  We  seem  to  tread  on  the  withered  leaves  of  a  de- 
parted life.  Though  the  world  is  filled  with  the  monuments  of 
divine  power  and  wisdom,  they  are  monuments  in  ruins.  Though 
we  are  surrounded  with  proofs  of  creative  energy  and  consuni- 


POPULAR   OBJECTIONS   TO   CHRISTIANITY.  391 

mate  skill,  Death  stalks  forth  among  them,  the  king  of  lenors, 
the  inexorable  tyrant  and  great  destroyer,  and  after  marking  all 
that  is  man's  with  his  withering  touch,  prepared  to  lay  man  him- 
self umler  the  dust  of  the  ruins  among  which  he  has  lived. 

In  the  moral  world,  we  behold  scenes  mournfully  analogous. 
We  see  man,  the  object  of  a  benevolence  that  never  tires  in  be- 
stowing the  bounties  of  a  providence  which  never  fails.  He  is 
endowed  with  faculties,  which,  unclouded  by  prejudice,  undebased 
by  vice  and  undegraded  by  ignorance,  testify  for  God,  lighten  thd- 
path  of  dut}^,  and  constitute  him,  in  the  lowest  stages  of  moral  ex- 
istence, a  reUgious  being.  Yet  he  evinces  a  constant  proclivity  to 
evil.  His  reason  disordered,  understanding  darkened,  imagination 
polluted  and  taste  depraved,  he  no  longer  delights  in  the  beautiful 
and  the  good.  He  becomes  an  alien  from  God.  Acknowledging 
the  goodness  of  the  law  written  on  his  heart,  he  perversely  violates 
its  precepts.  God's  name  becomes  his  bye-word,  and  God's  nature 
his  abhorrence.  He  is  subject  to  pain.  As  his  bod}'  has  become 
a  machinery  of  torture,  his  mind  becomes  a  fountain  of  woe.  His 
plans  are  crossed  and  his  prospects  blighted.  However  explained, 
he  feels  that  God  opposes  him.  Rarely  "  amidst  the  darkest  fears 
and  deepest  jealousies"  has  he  discarded  from  his  religion  the  idea 
of  a  benevolent  being,  and  invested  his  divinity  with  the  terrific 
attributes  of  inveterate  malignity  and  cruelty,  yet  so  much  has  fear 
prevailed  over  hope,  that  he  has  worshipped  the  devil.  Fearing, 
but  not  trusting,  he  ceases  to  pray  for  favor  and  deprecates  wrath. 
He  feels  that  though  a  depository  of  great  power,  he  is  watched, 
curbed  and  restrained.  His  very  liberty  becomes  his  ruin.  For 
he  has  not  only  separated  from  God,  but  divided  himself.  Now 
accusing  and  now  excusing,  his  thoughts  alternately  darken  hope 
and  mitigate  despair,  neither  the  hght  of  the  one  ever  totally 
extinguished,  nor  the  horrors  of  the  other  totally  relieved.  He  is 
guilty  of  what  he  condemns.  He  fails  to  perform  what  he  approves. 
He  begins  to  seek  God,  and  ends  in  a  vain  conceit  of  his  virtue. 
In  dreams  of  vanity  he  flatters  himself  that  he  is  pure,  and  wakes 
to  loathe  his  pollution.  He  lies  amidst  the  ruins  of  the  world,  like 
a  rock  in  the  debris  of  some  mighty  precipice,  in  whose  rugged 
and  misshapen  form  you  can  trace  the  lineaments  of  its  origin.  So 
man  is  separated  from  his  God.  A  gulf  wide  as  eternity  and  deep 
as  perdition  divides  them.  Well  did  Pascal  write,  "What  a  chi- 
mera is  man. — what  a  chaos  of  contradictions  !  A  judge  of  all 
things,  yet  a  worm  of  earth  ;  the  depository  of  truth,  yet  a  med- 


S92  POPULAR   OBJECTIONS   TO    CHRISTIANITY. 

ley  of  uncertainties ;  the  glory  and  scandal  of  the  universe.  If 
he  exalt  himself,  I  humble  him.  If  he  humble  himself,  I  exalt 
him,  and  press  him  with  his  own  inconsistencies  till  he  compre- 
hends himself  to  be  an  incomprehensible  monster." 

This  view  of  man  as  an  individual,  presents  a  type  of  the  con- 
dition of  the  race.  Now  amiable  instincts  and  generous  impulses 
furnish  scenes  of  domestic  happiness,  social  peace,  political  secu- 
rity and  general  prosperity.  Benevolence  feeds  the  hungry  poor, 
comforts  the  distressed  and  alleviates  the  severities  of  adversity. 
Anon,  conjugal  affection  degenerates  into  idolatry,  or  is  drovi'ned 
in  selfishness.  Parental  tenderness  becomes  foolish  weakness,  or 
is  extinguished  by  overbearing  tyranny.  Filial  confidence  softens 
into  servility  or  dies  in  ingratitude.  The  covenants  of  friendship 
conceal  crime  and  perpetuate  villainy,  or  are  sundered  by  treachery. 
The  institutions  of  religion  dwindle  to  trifling  superstitions,  or  be- 
come the  engines  of  spiritual  despotism,  and  the  cloaks  of  hypoc- 
risy. Liberty  waxes  into  licentiousness,  order  wanes  to  anarchy, 
and  government  turns  into  oppression.  The  exactions  of  avarice 
take  the  place  of  benevolence,  the  assumptions  of  arrogance  succeed 
the  condescensions  of  humility,  and  "  Man's  inhumanity  to  man 
makes  countless  millions  mourn."     Angels  weep,  and  hell  rejoices. 

But  amidst  all  these  disasters  in  the  natural  and  moral 
world,  both  furnish  evidences  of  tendencies  to  reconstruction. 
Science  and  art  with  their  thousand  hands  are  ministering  to  the 
disorders  of  nature  and  rebuilding  this  dilapidated  temple  with  its 
own  ruins.  They  convert  poison  into  medicine,  and  of  rivers  and 
seas,  which  divided  men,  make  highways  of  commerce.  From 
the  disembowelled  earth  are  drawn  the  mighty  wrecks  of  long 
forgotten  convulsions,  to  furnish  fuel  and  light,  the  implements  of 
husbandry  and  machinery,  which  increase  the  fertility  and  remedy 
the  defects  of  nature,  and  materials  to  adorn  and  beautify  this 
renovated  structure  of  man's  dwelling-place.  The  ice-bound 
streams  of  the  north  become  mines  of  wealth,  and  the  burning 
sands  and  sickening  fens  of  the  tropics,  furnish  refreshing  fruits 
and  abundant  food.  The  mighty  agencies,  which  in  nature's  lab- 
oratory, rend  rocks,  burst  mountains  and  ingulph  cities,  are  trained 
by  man,  to  bring  nations  together  and  erect  the  vast  marts  of 
commerce.  He  not  only  disarms  the  lightning  of  its  terrors,  but 
subjects  it  to  the  purposes  of  his  interest  and  pleasure. 

In  a  total  ruin  all  is  desolation.  But  God  has  not  deserted  man. 
He  has  not  suffered   all  the  impressions  of  his  hatred  to  evil  and 


POPULAR   OBJECTIONS  TO   CHRISTIANITY.  393 

delight  in  goodness  to  be  effaced  from  the  human  heart.  The 
setting  sun  tinges  with  his  departing  rays  the  fleecy  cloud  and  the 
mountain  top,  showing  he  has  not  set  forever,  and  auspicious  of  a 
morning.  So,  though  God  has  for  a  time  forsaken  the  moral  world, 
he  has  left  behind  him  a  train  of  light.  Man  still  yearns  for  something 
better.  He  may  be  in  a  prison  house  of  punishment,  but  it  is  one 
of  discipline,  not  entirely  of  vengeance.  His  history  is  a  history 
of  sin  and  error,  but  a  history  too,  of  struggles  for  conformity  to 
the  light  left  to  guide  his  path.  Failed  he  has,  most  memorably 
and  miserably,  yet  that  he  struggles,  proves  that  all  is  not  lost. 

Now  all  this  accords  with  Revelation.  Open  this  book,  and  what 
man  has  learned,  slowly  and  laboriously,  from  the  observations 
and  experiences  of  six  thousand  years,  read  by  his  reason,  is  here 
unfolded  in  a  few  sentences.  God's  curse  fell  on  Adam,  and 
on  the  earth,  though  sinless,  for  man's  sake.  It  fell  on  all 
mankind,  and  the  sufferings  of  infancy,  pain,  disease,  travail  and 
sorrow,  the  train  closed  by  death,  man's  greatest  evil,  have  been 
our  sad  inheritance.  Whether  inen  call  this  "imputation,"  or, 
sneering  at  the  term,  prefer  some  other,  the  facts  of  the  record, 
thus  attested  by  the  deductions  of  reason  from  those  of  human 
history,  remain  unimpeachable.  Prejudice  may  storm,  but  cannot 
overthrow  them.  It  is  useless  to  argue  against  them,  sinful  to 
cavil  at  them,  absurd  and  puerile  to  ridicule  them. 

Here  too  is  the  promise  of  a  remedy,  intimated  to  man  in  the  very 
hour  of  his  curse  ;  and  the  earnest  expectation  of  the  creature, 
the  natural  world,  though  with  the  moral,  groaning  and  travailing, 
as  in  the  throes  of  some  mighty  agony,  seems,  by  the  deductions 
of  the  same  reason,  awaiting  the  promised  manifestation  of  the 
sons  of  God,  and  ardently  longing  for  a  deliverance  from  the  long 
and  grievous  bondage  of  corruption.* 

Attested  thus,  by  the  state  of  things  in  which  we  live,  this  brief 
but  pregnant  passage  in  the  third  chapter  of  Genesis,  instead  of 
sinking  into  a  contemptible  myth,  or  a  baseless  imposture,  rises  in 
all  the  grandeur,  sublimity  and  power  of  a  most  stupendous  truth, 
entitled  to  our  confidence  for  its  lineaments  of  inspiration,  as  to 
our  veneration  for  its  attributes  of  antiquity. 

8.    Some  object  to  Christianity  on   account  of  the   particular 

*  For  the  train  of  thought  in  the  last  two  or  three  paragraphs,  and  for  a  few  ex- 
pressions, I  acknowledge  my  obligations  to  the  very  ingenious  and  interesting  work  of 
Mr.  McCosh  "  On  Divine  Government."  in  which  the  views  here  presented  are  ably 
and  fully  set  forth. 


894  POPULAR   OBJECTIONS   TO   CHRISTIANITY. 

remedy  of  the  gospel.  It,  might  be  supposed  that  a  candid  and 
impartial  objector  to  Revelation  on  account  of  its  doctrine  of 
man's  ruin,  would  find  some  relief  to  the  difficulty  in  the  provision 
of  a  remedy.  But  either  by  reason  of  ignorance  of  its  nature,  or 
wilful  blindness  to  the  truth,  the  scheme  of  redemption  has  been 
the  subject  of  severe  criticism. 

(1.)  As  in  respect  of  all  doctrines,  for  whose  discovery  we  are 
indebted  to  Revelation,  it  is  peculiarly  true  of  this,  that  antece- 
dently to  such  Revelation,  men  could  not  be  competent  judges. 
They  could  form  no  opinion  on  the  nature  of  a  remedial  scheme, 
the  necessity  for  the  particular  agency  of  a  Mediator,  his  charac- 
ter or  offices. 

(2.)  It  is  also  obvious,  that  the  incarnation,  resurrection,  the 
combination  of  human  and  divine  agency  in  the  Saviour's  suffer- 
ings, and  their  duration  as  too  long  or  too  short,  and  similar 
topics,  are  above  our  comprehension,  and  objections  applicable  to 
such,  are  as  absurd,  as  the  objections  of  a  child,  to  the  plans,  prin- 
ciples and  dealings  of  a  father,  while  yet  too  young  to  appreciate 
or  comprehend  them. 

(3.)  Of  such  objections  to  the  gospel  remedy  as  are  legitimate 
subjects  of  our  discussion,  we  ofTer  a  few  specimens,  with  sum- 
mary replies. 

The  manner  in  which  the  remedy  has  been  prepared,  has  been 
criticised,  as  presenting  God  reduced  to  the  necessity  of  using  a 
long  series  of  intricate  means  to  bring  it  about. 

As  to  the  facts  of  this  scheme  having  been  gradually  and  slowly 
developed,  connected  with  human  agencies,  in  the  way  of  cause 
and  effect,  we  well  know  that  this  accords  with  the  course  of  na- 
ture. Vegetables  and  animal  bodies  grow  by  degrees.  The 
mind  increases  in  power.  One  series  of  means  subserves  another, 
and  so  the  whole  course  of  nature  is  progressive.  Thus  has  the 
scheme  of  Redemption  been  developed.  But  its  efficiency  was  not 
postponed  to  its  full  enactment,  for  its  blessings  flowed  to  man 
before,  as  well  as  after,  the  incarnation  of  the  Son  of  God. 

The  system  of  a  Mediator  and  a  mediation  is  alleged  to  be  ir- 
rational. Now  it  has  been  seen,  that  by  the  findings  of  observa- 
tion and  experience,  there  is,  at  least,  a  presumption  raised,  that 
some  remedial  system  might  be  provided  for  man's  spiritual  as 
for  his  physical  disabilities.  And  pursuing  our  reading  of  nature 
farther,  though  never  discovering,  because  the  book  never  con- 
tained it,  that  such  a  remedy  would  be  effected  by  a  Mediator,  yet 


POPULAR  OBJECTIONS  TO   CHRISTIANITY.  395 

we  can  see,  now  it  has  been  published  in  Gotl's  other  voUirae,  that 
it  is  not  discordant  with  the  lessons  of  nature.  We  owe  our  birth, 
nurture,  physical,  mental  and  moral  culture,  to  the  various  medi- 
ating agents,  by  which  God  has  communicated  such  blessings  to 
men.  A  reflecting  mind  may  extend  this  illustration  almost  in- 
definitely. And  if  God,  in  his  visible  government,  thus  uses  such 
agencies,  it  is  at  least  credible,  that  he  might  adopt  the  principle 
in  his  spiritual  government.  There  is  certainly  everything  other 
than  objectionable,  in  the  idea,  that  as  God  has,  by  sucli  agencies, 
provided  for  remedying  the  defects  and  neutralizing  or  removing 
the  evils  of  this  present  disordered  world,  furnishing  means  of  re- 
lief from  calamities,  as  pain,  disease,  and  the  like,  which  men  had 
induced  by  negligence,  perversity,  or  stupidity;  by  a  similar  kind 
of  agency  he  tenders  the  means  of  deliverance  from  that,  which, 
to  a  sober  and  well-balanced  mind,  must  appear  the  greatest  of 
evils,  sin  and  its  consequences.  This  is  surely  a  pleasing  and 
amiable  view  of  the  Divine  Being,  that  he  should  select  his  Son 
to  effect  a  purpose  so  replete  with  blessings  to  man  and  glor}^  to 
God. 

The  sacrifice  of  the  innocent  Son  of  God,  in  the  place  of  the 
insignificant  inhabitants  of  this  little  planet,  is  alleged  to  be  un- 
worthy of  a  just  God,  and  that  he  should  be  as  well  pleased  with 
the  sufferings  of  the  innocent  as  the  guilty,  is  declared  contradic- 
tory to  the  dictates  of  reason.  The  objections  here  presented  are 
connected  with  each  other  and  with  one  great  fact,  the  death  of 
Christ,  in  such  a  manner,-  that  to  avoid  repetition  they  may  be 
considered  somewhat  together. 

The  Scriptures  represent  the  death  of  Christ,  in  the  light  of  a 
sacrifice,  in  which  he,  in  his  mediatorial  character  and  united  na- 
ture, as  a  Priest,  offers  his  human  nature  as  a  victim.  Whether 
of  human  or  divine  origin,  sacrifices  are  of  very  ancient  date. 
Either  with  or  without  prayers,  confessions  and  thanksgivings, 
they  have  constituted,  in  some  form,  a  prominent  part  of  the  reli- 
gious worship  of  all  nations,  who  had  a  religion.  If  of  human 
origin,  there  can  be  no  objection  to  the  Christian  scheme  as  re- 
quiring a  sacrifice,  any  more  than  to  others.  If  of  divine,  this 
ycheme  then  accords,  in  this  principle,  with  the  earliest  lessons  of 
primitive  religion  imparted  to  man.  In  either  case,  the  objection 
applies  to  all  religions,  and  if  valid  in  one,  is  valid  in  all,  and 
leaves  us  with  none. 

Tlie  involuntary  suffering  of  an  innocent  being  without  ade- 


396  POPULAR   OBJECTION'S   TO   CHRISTIANITY. 

quate  cause  is  wrong,  and  though,  were  such  a  being  rational,  the 
wrong  is  aggravated,  yet  the  principle  of  justice  is  infringed  by 
the  sufferings  of  any  such,  rational  or  irrational.  The  Deist 
might,  on  this  view,  well  object  to  the  sacrifices  of  the  heathen, 
which  inflicted  suffering  on  innocent  brutes,  with  no  adequate 
cause.  But  the  suffering  inflicted  on  a  voluntary  victim  is  not 
injurious,  and  conflicts  with  no  principle  of  justice.  Jesus  Christ 
was  a  voluntary  victim,  and  as  those  sacrifices  of  brutes  directed 
under  the  Old  Testament  economy  were  typical  of  His,  and 
ordered  by  God,  there  was  an  adequate  cause  for  the  suffering. 
Thus  the  Scripture  doctrine  of  sacrifice  is  not  liable  to  cavil,  how- 
ever that  of  any  other  religious  system  may  be. 

Though  relatively  insignificant  in  enlarged  views  of  God  s  intelli- 
gent universe,  yet  since  man  has  formed,  confessedly,  an  object 
of  great  interest  to  his  Creator,  in  this  world,  there  can  be  no  force 
in  an  objection  to  a  scheme,  because  it  represents  him  as  an  objoct 
of  a  more  intense  interest,  in  so  grave  a  matter  as  his  spiritual 
and  eternal  welfare.  Especially  is  this  reasonable,  when  we 
connect  with  it,  the  inspired  assurance,  that  the  transactions  in 
which  this  interest  for  man  have  been  evinced,  are  designed,  and 
will  ultimately  prove,  to  be  contributive,  in  a  most  eminent  de- 
gree, to  declare  the  divine  glory.  Among  other  manifestations, we 
are  assured,  that  these  transactions  display  alike  the  evil  of  sin, 
God's  hatred  to  it,  and  his  love  to  sinners,  and  our  reason  leaves 
us  in  no  doubt,  that  all  this  has  been  effected  in  a  more  clear  and 
eflRicient  method,  by  so  much  as  the  dignity  and  value  of  the  sac- 
rifice have  been  greater.  While  too,  we  see  that  in  the  course 
of  nature,  the  innocent  often  suffer  for  the  guilty,  and  that  this 
principle  is  of  very  common  and  extensive  prevalence  in  human 
government,  as  in  the  well-known  laws  of  suretyship,  we  can 
have  no  valid  occasion  for  objecting,  that  in  view  of  honoring  the 
divine  law  and  sustaining  inviolate,  the  principles  of  the  divine 
government,  God  should  accept  the  sufferings  of  the  innocent  in- 
stead of  the  guilty,  as  equally  adequate  to  satisfying  the  claims 
of  justice. 

Finally,  it  is  querulously  asked,  why  all  this  array  of  means  ? 
Why  may  not  sinful  men  be  at  once  forgiven,  and  made  holy  and 
happy  ?  Such  questions  are  easily  asked,  and  on  superficial  views 
of  the  divine  character  and  government,  not  easily  answered.  It 
is  very  useless  for  us  to  speculate  on  the  physical  possibilities  of 
omnipotence.     By  reason  and  Revelation  alike,  we  are  taught  to 


POPULAR   OBJECTIONS   TO    CHRISTIANITY.  397 

believe,  that  the  perfection  of  the  divine  being  involves  the  har- 
mony of  the  divine  attributes.  God  is  a  moral  governor.  We  feel 
persuaded,  that  as  such,  he  must  govern  by  just  and  holy  laws ; 
and  that  his  government,  as  well  as  every  other  and  more  than 
every  other,  forfeits  our  confidence  if  the  laws  are  not  executed. 
But  as  all  men  are  sinners,  justice  requires  their  punishment.  As 
no  one  can  rightly  estimate  the  heinousness  of  any  one  sin,  or  the 
importance  of  any  one  particular  vindication  of  the  law,  we  are 
compelled  to  assent  to  the  righteousness  of  a  principle,  more  or 
less  acknowledged  in  human  governments,  that,  "he  who  offends 
in  one  point  is  guilty  of  all" — that  is,  obnoxious  to  punishment. 
Violated  law  must  be  honored.  The  subsequent  obedience  of  the 
transgressor  cannot  atone  for  the  crime,  nor  can  suffering  alone 
repair  the  injury  inflicted  by  disobedience.  But  man  fails  to  obey. 
His  sufferings,  consistent  with  his  happiness  are  ineffectual.  The 
law  violated  is  that  of  infinite  holiness,  of  the  supreme  ruler. 
That  offences  are  aggravated  by  considerations  of  the  relations 
of  the  party  offending  to  the  party  offended,  is  too  plain  to  need 
an  illustration.  But  beyond  the  highest  disproportion  between 
any  man  and  any  earthly  power,  that  between  man  and  God 
stretches  with  an  infinite  extent.  Man's  suffering  then,  to  meet 
the  just  demands  of  a  violated  law  of  God,  must  involve  his  utter 
and  hopeless  ruin.  If  then  sin  be  forgiven  as  proposed,  the  justice 
and  holiness  of  God  are  dethroned,  the  harmony  of  the  di- 
vine attributes  is  destroyed,  and  the  moral  power  of  the  divine 
government  impaired.  Hence  the  necessity  for  this  "array  of 
means."  Hence  the  necessity,  in  order  that  man  may  be  forgiven, 
be  made  holy  and  happy,  that  a  way  be  devised  to  satisfy  divine 
justice.  Now  in  the  gospel  scheme,  mercy  and  truth  are  met  to- 
gether. Righteousness  and  peace  have  kissed  each  other.  Justice 
tind  holiness  shine  most  conspicuously  on  that  cross,  where  God 
spared  not  his  Son,  innocent  as  he  was,  when  he  took  the  sinner's 
place  ;  while  there  too,  fall  with  his  blood,  the  richer  drops  of  di- 
vine mercy  and  compassion.  The  justice  here  illustrated  is  sterner 
than,  if  every  sinner  had  died  without  mercy,  and  the  mercy  richer, 
than  had  every  sinner  been  pardoned  without  justice.  Mercy  is 
unfolded,  in  God's  so  loving  the  world,  that  he  gave  his  Son,  and 
justice,  in  that  no  other  than  the  costly  blood  of  the  incar- 
nate Son  of  God  could  appease  its  holy  wrath.  Mercy  secures  the 
transfer  of  the  sinner's  guilt  to  his  surety,  while  justice  rigidly 


398  POPULAR  OBJECTIONS  TO   CHRISTIANITY. 

exacts  from  the  surety  the  full  price  of  the  sinner's  pardon.    Mercy 
providing  a  complete  righteousness  for  the  sinner, 


while  justice 


— "  Takes  the  robe  the  Saviour  -wrought, 
And  casts  it  all  around," 

— "  All  God's  vengeance  pours 
Upon  the  Saviour's  head." 


Mercy  inclines  the  ear  of  God  to  the  prayer  of  the  penitent,  pleading 
in  the  Saviour's  name,  while  justice  awakens  the  sword  of  divine 
anger  against  him  who  was  God's  equal.  In  fine,  mercy,  rich,  free 
and  full,  appears- in  forgiving  millions  of  sins,  and  justice,  holy,  strict 
and  inexorable  in  refusing  pardon  for  the  least  without  the  ato- 
ning sacrifice  of  the  Son  of  God.  Equally  conspicuous  are  the 
divine  wisdom  and  power,  Man  lost  beyond  all  hope  and  all 
remedy,  by  his  own  efforts,  afforded  an  object  of  pity  to  holy  beings. 
Angels  may  well  be  supposed  to  have  beheld  the  scene  with  feel- 
ings of  mingled  compassion  and  wonder.  To  restore  the  race  to 
favor  consistently  with  justice,  no  scheme  ever  imagined  by  man 
was  competent,  none  within  the  reach  of  less  than  omnipotence 
could  avail.  Not  only  must  the  divine  attributes  be  harmonized, 
but  man's  nature  must  be  renovated.  In  the  gospel,  the  latter  is 
effected,  as  well  as  the  former.  Not  only  w^as  the  law  of  God 
honored  and  his  justice  satisfied,  by  the  Saviour's  sufferings  and 
obedience,  but  the  gift  of  a  renewing,  sanctifying  spirit  was  pro- 
cured. By  his  agency  man  is  made  "  willing  in  the  day  of  God's 
power."  Convinced  of  sin,  he  is  led  to  repentance  and  faith.  He 
is  new  created.  Old  things  pass  away.  His  corrupt  propensities 
and  his  inveterate  depravity,  are  gradually  destroyed,  his  rebellion 
subdued,  and  his  nature  averse  to  holiness,  renewed  and  sanctified 
and  made  fit  for  the  holy  employments  of  a  glorious  abode. 

"  'Twas  great  to  speak  this  world  from  naught, 
'Twas  greater  to  redeem." 

Thus  in  a  word,  do  we  discover  in  the  gospel  plan  the  divine  at- 
tributes harmoniously  co-operating.  Wisdom  to  devise,  power  to 
execute,  justice  to  punish,  mercy  to  forgive,  equally  conspicuous 
with  the  holiness  which  is  intolerant  of  sin,  the  love  which  delights 
in  the  sinner's  salvation,  the  truth  which  binds  to  the  fulfilment  of 
threatening,  and  the  goodness  which  inclines  to  the  performance 
of  promises.     Man  is  raised  from  the  dregs  of  pollution  and  the 


POPULAR   OBJECTIOXS   TO   CHRISTIANITY.  399 

verge  of  perdilioU;  to  the  eternal  purity  and  unfailing  security  of 
heavenly  happiness.  Earth  is  filled  with  the  blessings  and  Heaven 
with  the  glories  of  this  great  redemption. 

"Oh  the  sweet  wonders  of  that  ci'oss 
Where  God  the  Saviour  loved  and  died, 
Her  richest  life  my  spirit  draws 
From  his  dear  wounds  and  bleeding  side." 

9.  The  hmited  publication  of  Christianity,  and  its  limited  preva- 
lence and  power  as  consequences  of  tliis,  have  frequently  been 
urged  as  inconsistent  with  its  divine  origin  and  its  claims  to  be  re- 
garded as  a  necessary  and  universal  blessing. 

(1.)  If  Christianity  be  tendered  to  us,  accompanied  by  reliable 
evidence,  the  deprivation  of  others,  no  more  mars  its  purity,  than 
invalidates  its  evidences.  Moreover  we  are  incompetent  judges  of 
the  divine  procedure.  Apparent  inconsistencies  in  human  gov- 
ernments, as  we  have  had  occasion  to  see  as  to  God's  natural 
government  of  the  world,  are  often  removed  by  more  accurate  and 
extensive  informal  ion.  So  may  it  be,  that  there  are  valid  reasons 
for  a  state  of  things,  apparently  inconsistent  with  God's  power, 
wisdonji  or  benevolence  or  all. 

(2.)  Indeed  none  will  require  the  universal  reception  of  Chris- 
tianity, as  either  an  evidence  of  its  divine  origin  or  an  argument 
for  its  purity  ;  for  where  it  has  been  fully  published,  it  has  not  been 
universally  received,  and  unless  free  agency  were  destroyed  by  an 
enforcement  of  its  claims,  in  the  present  state  of  things,  we  see  no 
reason  to  expect  such  a  reception.  This  conceded,  whether  a 
minority  or  majority  have  received  it,  is  not  very  material.  But 
we  have  reason  to  believe,  that  a  much  larger  number  will  ulti- 
mately appear  to  have  been  benefited  than  the  objection  intimates. 
The  present  and  the  past  generations  of  men,  may  constitute  a 
minority  of  the  whole  race.  What  are  yet  to  be  the  effects  of 
Christianity  we  know  not.  Probably  they  will  exceed  all  former 
experience.  When  then,  to  Christian  adults,  we  add  the  vast 
millions  of  infants  interested  in  the  atoning  blood  of  Christ  and 
the  healing  power  of  the  divine  Spirit,  it  is  possible,  a  vast  majority 
of  the  human  family  will  have  been  found  participants  in  the 
blessings  of  the  gospel. 

And,  after  all,  it  remains  to  be  seen  whether  the  causes  of  the 
alleged  ^^  inconsistency^^  di\-e.  intrinsic  evils  of  the  Christian  scheme. 

(3.)  Admitting  that  a  formal  and  particular  publication  of  re- 


400  POPULAR   OBJECTIONS   TO   CHRISTIANITY. 

vealed  religion  was  limited  to  one  nation  under  the  old  dispensa- 
tion, and  has  been  generally  restricted  to  a  few,  under  the  new, 
we  ourselves  may  see  a  propriety  and  justice  in  both  cases.  We 
have  abundant  reason  for  believing,  that  sufficiently  full  disclo- 
sures of  the  divine  will  were  made  to  our  first  parents  and  to  Noah 
and  his  family.  That  men  not  liking  to  retain  the  knowledge  of 
God,  lost,  by  perversity  and  negligence,  the  advantages  of  revealed 
truth,  may  be  read  in  the  progressions  of  every  system  of  idolatry, 
as  well  as  in  the  inspired  record.  Now,  God  deals  with  his  crea- 
tures as  moral  agents,  and  provides  neither  irresistible  evidences 
nor  means  for  preserving  to  them  the  knowledge  of  his  v^ill.  Be- 
cause of  this  tendency  to  apostasy  and  deterioration,  on  the  prin- 
ciple already  indicated,  he  selected  one  nation  as  the  depositary 
of  his  truth,  and  by  restrictive  laws  and  peculiar  institutions,  sep- 
arated it  from  the  permanent  taint  of  that  idolatry,  to  which  in 
common  with  other  nations,  it  ever  manifested  a  proclivity. 

As  to  the  Ciiristian  dispensation,  God  was  pleased  to  leave  to 
man  a  discovery  of  its  necessity,  by  an  experience  of  his  moral 
destitution,  and  when  the  Gospel  was  promulgated,  we  can  easily 
see  that  it  was  not  only  consistent  with  the  divine  procedure, 
in  other  things,  but  was  better  calculated  to  preserve  the  purity 
of  the  system,  and  promote  sincerity  in  its  advocates,  that  it  should 
meet  opposition  and  be  subjected  to  a  rigid  scrutiny.  By  too  sud- 
den a  change  from  paganism  to  Christianity,  universally  occurring, 
there  would  have  been  danger  of  a  fatal  and  general  corruption 
of  the  system,  while  the  tests  of  sincerity  withdrawn,  there  might 
have  been  a  fearful  prevalence  of  hypocrisy.  We  reason  from 
facts.  At  a  later  period,  when  the  civil  power  was  substituted  for 
the  pulpit,  and  earthly  rewards  for  eternal,  these  results  followed; 
and  that  to  such  extent,  that  all  are  accustomed  to  regard  the 
primitive,  as  the  age  of  the  greatest  Christian  purity,  from  whose 
history  we  derive  our  lessons  of  the  true  nature  and  power  of  the 
gospel. 

(4.)  It  may  be  true,  that  the  Christian  religion  does  not  secure 
the  perfection  of  its  followers,  in  moral  character,  while  on  earth, 
nor  has  it  preserved  among  them  entire  unity  of  opinion.  Many 
of  its  professed  votaries,  including  ministers,  have  disgraced  human 
nature,  as  well  as  Christianity  by  immoral  lives,  and  the  exhibition 
of  cruel  and  persecuting  tempers,  while  the  wars  waged,  professedly 
in  behalf  of  religion,  have  been  distinguished  for  ferocity  and  cru- 


POPULAR   OBJECTIONS  TO   CHRISTIANITY.  401 

elty.  But  objections  founded  on  these  statements  lose  all  their 
force,  "when  the  statements  themselves  are  rightly  considered. 

Though  taught  that,  at  death,  believers  are  made  perfect  in 
holiness,  yet  the  general  tone  of  Scripture  doctrine,  precept  and 
biography  prove  that  the  production  of  a  comparative  holiness  is 
the  extent  of  power  on  individuals,  claimed  for  the  Christian  sys- 
tem in  this  world ;  and  that  it  rather  aims  to  carry  us  through  a 
state  of  discipline,  preparatory  and  subservient  to  one  of  perfection 
in  heaven,  where  we  shall  no  more  see  through  a  glass  darkly,  or 
know  in  part,  but  shall  see  God  and  be  made  like  him. 

The  divisions  of  Christians  are  no  more,  nor  more  important, 
than  reasoning  from  other  things,  we  might  presume.  Laws  and 
constitutions,  though  carefully  drawn  by  the  wisest  men,  education, 
medicine,  agriculture,  natural  and  moral  science,  and  even  mathe- 
matics, are  all  subjects,  on  which  either  as  to  their  principles, 
modes  of  exhibition  or  application,  great  diversity  of  opinion  exists. 
And  it  is  observable,  that  the  acrimony,  zeal,  and  pertinacity 
which  are  evinced  by  sectaries,  are  usually  in  the  direct  ratio  of 
the  general  importance  of  a  subject,  or  the  inverse  ratio  of  that 
of  its  specialities.  But  no  one  pretends  that  division  or  controversy 
imply  that  its  subject  is  one  of  doubt  or  uncertain t}'^,  or  that  any 
system  is  responsible  for  the  variety  of  opinions  of  which  it  is  the 
occasion.  This  is  more  frequently  owing  to  the  influence  of  ex- 
trinsic causes.  There  is  more  agreement  among  Christians  on 
the  fundamental  propositions  of  Christianity,  than  can  be  found 
among  the  adherents  of  any  other  system  of  moral  truth. 

But  divisions  on  some  subjects  are  ascribed  to  a  want  of  clear- 
ness in  the  (Scriptures.  The  Trinity,  infant  baptism,  observance 
of  Sunda,y,  and  the  constitution  and  powers  of  the  church,  are 
specimens  of  such  subjects.  It  will  ordinarily  be  found,  that  these 
differences  are  ascribable  to  defects  in  plans  of  study,  or  power  of 
reasoning,  or  the  influences  of  education  or  prejudices,  or  all  com- 
bined. It  is  admitted,  that  all  subjects  are  not  revealed  with  the 
same  clearness.  On  no  fundamental  topic  is  there  any  want,  and 
yet  the  deliverances  of  Scripture  on  these,  are  not  all  in  the  same 
mode.  We  find  that  the  causes  of  difference  mentioned,  out  of 
the  question,  very  few  who  evince  a  right  apprehension  of  the  ac- 
knowledged and  plain  truths  of  Scripture,  fail  to  agree  on  such 
subjects  as  the  doctrine  of  the  Trinity  and  the  observance  of  Sun- 
day. God  has  endowed  us  with  faculties  and  furnished  us  with 
facilities  for  collecting  the  scattered  rays  of  truth,  on  all  important 

26 


402  POrULAR   0J3JECT10XS   TO   CHRISTIANITY. 

topics,  and  by  scattering  them  on  some,  has  evinced  his  wisdon), 
as  thereby  a  more  dihgent  study  of  the  whole  is  secured.  On 
those  of  less  importance,  the  differences  involve  the  rejection  or 
uncertainty  of  nothing  essential  to  the  spiritual  character  of  the 
system. 

No  cause  ought  to  be  judged  by  its  corruptions  and  abuses. 
Immoralities  of  Christians  cannot  be  charged  on  the  system,  till 
shown  to  proceed  from  its  principles.  But  the  purity  of  these  prin- 
ciples is  admitted  in  the  charge,  for  Christians  are  criticised  as  much 
or  more,  for  want  of  conformity  to  the  peculiar  precepts  of  their 
own  religion,  as  those  common  to  it  and  the  religion  of  nature. 

If  persecution  were  of  the  spirit  of  Christianity,  where  this  most 
prevails  that  would  most  abound.  But  the  reverse  is  notoriously 
true.  Religious  wars  have  uniformly  resulted  from  the  acts  and 
motives  of  unchristian  men,  and  history  attests,  that  those  minis- 
ters or  others,  who  have  become  tyrants  over  the  souls  and  bodies 
of  their  fellows,  erected  stakes  and  gibbets,  founded  the  infernal 
dungeons  and  contrived  the  cruel  racks  of  the  Inquisition,  in  other 
respects,  forfeited  all  claim  to  be  regarded  as  Christians.  Isolated 
instances  may  be  found,  when  under  the  influence  of  evil  exam- 
ples and  depraved  public  sentiment,  or  driven  by  oppression,  men 
of  undoubted  Christian  principle,  have  turned  aside  from  rectitude 
in  these  respects,  but  persecution,  and  every  harsh  and  cruel  mode 
of  propagating  Christianity,  have  ever  been  condemned  by  those, 
who  in  every  age,  have  enjoyed  the  best  reputation  as  Christians  ; 
and  the  Bible  not  only  does  not  teach,  but  most  expressly  de- 
nounces such  practices.  Our  Saviour's  admonition  of  the  effect 
of  his  doctrine  in  producing  divisions  and  hatreds  among  the  near- 
est friends,  was  a  candid  prediction  of  the  harsh  reception  it  would 
find  in  the  world.  Peculiar  duties,  as  the  agents  of  heaven  in 
destroying  idolaters,  were  delegated  to  the  Jews ;  but  no  precept 
of  the  Old  Testament  can  be  adduced  to  show,  that  they  were 
ever  instructed  to  propagate  their  faith,  by  any  other  than  the 
•methods  used  for  propagating  all  truth,  rational  conviction  and 
•persuasion.  As  to  the  imputations  on  the  character  of  the  Chris- 
tian ministry,  without  indelicate  boasting,  we  may  challenge  the 
world  to  produce  a  body,  which,  as  such,  presents  a  greater  num- 
ber of  serious,  self-denying,  laborious,  and  upright  men  than  may 
be  found  in  the  protestant  clergy  of  the  United  States.  And  it 
■tleserves  to  be  mentioned,  that  in  respect  of  the  moral  character 
and  influence  of  the  Christian  Church  and  ministry,  both  are  to  be 


POPULAR   OBJECTIONS   TO   CHRISTIANITY.  403 

regarded  as  something  other  than  the  Christian  scheme,  especially 
in  countries,  whereby  the  unnatural  alUance  of  Church  and  State, 
the  true  genius  of  Christianity  has  been  mournfully  marred. 

It  must  be  admitted  by  candid  and  intelligent  men,  that  the 
tone  of  morality  has  ever  been  higher  in  Christian,  than  in  Mo- 
hammedan and  Pagan  lands,  and  of  Christian  lands,  higher  in 
those,  where  the  principles  of  Christianity  have  been  most  exten- 
sively diffused.  Though  practical  religion  may  have  been  cor- 
rupted in  later  times,  the  lives  of  primitive  Christians,  when  temp- 
tations to  hypocrisy  were  few,  and  to  apostasy,  many,  were  monu- 
ments of  their  faith  in  the  estimate  of  enemies.  Then,  as  now, 
Christians  Avere  not  inmates  of  jails,  and  victims  for  gibbets,  as 
evil-doers.  It  must  be  admitted,  that  Christianity  provides  better 
for  those  classes,  which  most  need  moral  benefits,  than  any  other 
system  ;  for  while  philosophy  neglected  the  poor,  and  after  ages 
of  speculation  and  scores  of  schools,  and  sects,  and  systems  had 
passed  away,  the  multitude  still  la}^  neglected  and  degraded,  Chris- 
tianity lias  succeeded  in  enlightening  the  illiterate,  comforting  the 
distressed,  and  in  healing  the  maladies,  easing  the  burdens,  and 
enlarging  the  enjoyments  of  men  in  every  grade  of  penury  and 
sorrow,  of  all  nations,  ages,  and  circumstances.  It  must  be  ad- 
mitted, that  it  has  won  trophies  of  its  moral  power  from  people  of 
every  color,  clime,  and  condition.  The  Moor,  the  Hindoo,  the 
Chinese,  and  the  Hottentot,  the  deluded  victims  of  imposture,  and 
the  degraded  servants  of  apostasy  and  superstition,  have  been  re- 
leased from  their  bonds  of  ignorance  and  vice,  by  its  influence ; 
and  from  hovels,  dungeons,  and  manacles,  have  issued  the  songs 
of  praise,  inspired  by  its  promises. 

To  the  whole  of  this  objection,  that  Christianity  has  been  of 
limited  publication,  prevalence  and  power,  three  considerations 
may  be  offered  in  reply,  which,  at  least,  greatly  impair  its  force. 

(1.)  Men  who  never  hear  the  gospel  are  not  injured  by  its  pub- 
lication to  others.  God  accepts  or  condemns  men  according  to 
what  they  have,  and  not  according  to  what  they  have  not.  They 
will  be  judged  by  the  law  written  on  their  hearts,  and  not  by  the 
gospel  they  never  knew.  True,  by  reason  of  man's  wilful  bHnd- 
ness  and  perversity,  that  law  conducts  none  to  heaven,  and  as 
ignorance  is  no  reason  why  men  should  not  learn,  or  others  teach 
them,  so  moral  darkness  is  no  reason  they  should  not  seek  the 
light,  and  Christians  endeavor  to  impart  it.     But  the  misery  of 


404  POPULAR   OBJECTIONS  TO   CHRISTIANITY. 

their  condition  is  not  that  we  have  the  gospel.  But  that  they  have 
not  improved  the  Hght  they  had. 

(2.)  And  when  it  is  still  urged,  that  the  gospel  has  not  been 
given  to  them  as  well  as  to  us,  it  must  be  conceded,  that  judging 
by  the  constitution  of  nature,  we  had  little  reason  to  expect  any- 
thing otherwise. 

The  advantages  of  soil,  climate,  commerce  and  civilization,  are 
very  unequally  distributed.  As  no  two  persons  can  be  found  ex- 
actly alike  in  physical  constitution,  so  no  two  individuals  possess 
precisely  the  same  privileges  ;  but  we  find  an  endless  variety  in 
respect  of  physical  form  and  strength,  learning,  taste  and  temper. 
A  survey  of  the  world  will  show,  that  the  greatest  blessings  are 
possessed  by  the  few.  Now  as  God  has  been  under  no  obligation 
to  confer  like  blessings  on  all,  or  certain  blessings  on  any,  his  dis- 
tinguishing some  men  with  advantages,  does  not  impeach  the 
divine  justice  or  benevolence  in  withholding  them  from  others. 
These  last  are  not  less  favored  than  had  the  others  received  noth- 
ing. No  more  was  God  obliged  to  confer  the  benefits  of  revela- 
tion on  any  persons  whatever,  since  all  were  undeserving,  unless 
it  be  contended  that  he  had  made  man  at  first  without  the  knowl- 
edge necessary  to  fulfil  the  end  of  his  being,  which,  of  course,  no 
consistent  deist  will  aver.  And  as  in  the  former  case,  so  in  this, 
those  from  whom  the  gospel  has  been  withheld  are  not  less 
favored  than  had  others  not  received  it.  Indeed,  the  divine  pro- 
vision for  man's  spiritual  welfare,  seems  conducted  on  the  princi- 
ple by  which  that  for  his  temporal  welfare  has  been  made.  God 
has  provided  in  the  mineral  and  vegetable  kingdoms  a  great  vari- 
ety of  medicines,  and  has  furnished  the  vast  storehouse  of  nature 
with  materials  for  the  various  useful  arts,  which  contribute  to  our 
safety,  convenience  and  comfort.  He  has  also  endowed  us  with 
the  physical  and  mental  faculties  by  which  we  may  make  these 
provisions  available.  Yet  we  find  that  in  his  providence,  long 
periods  have  elapsed  before  some  very  important  remedies  and 
valuable  discoveries  in  the  sciences  and  arts  have  become  known 
to  man.  Thousands  are  still  unaffected  by  them.  Owing  to  in- 
dolence and  ignorance,  prejudice  and  passion,  it  has  often  been 
only  after  long  labor,  unsuccessful  experiments,  contempt,  dis- 
putes, divisions,  controversies,  doubts  and  rejections,  that  some  of 
them  have  obtained  reception  and  success.  Many  who  greatly 
need  them,  cannot  be  brought  to  appreciate  them.  To  millions 
they  a:e  never  offered.     Others  again  derive  no  benefit  from  them 


POPULAR   OBJECTIONS  TO   CHRISTIANITY.  405 

on  account  of  some  circumstances  which  countervail  their  effects. 
In  short,  we  thus  see  that  these  provisions  are  neither  certain, 
perfect,  nor  universal.  So  has  been  the  course  of  Providence  in 
f-espect  of  a  revelation.  And  yet  in  one  aspect,  our  illustration 
fails.  Christianity  has  not  been  left  hidden  for  man's  discovery  or 
invention.  Though  not  pubhshed  to  every  successive  apostate 
generation,  and,  for  reasons  already  offered,  a  particular  mode  of 
revelation  was  adopted,  yet  from  the  earliest  ages,  the  knowledge 
of  its  material  truths  has  been  in  the  world.  Before  the  Saviour 
came,  men  were  taught  to  believe  on  him  who  was  promised,  and 
since  he  appeared,  the  gospel  has  been  offered,  at  various  periods, 
to  a  great  part  of  the  world's  population,  not,  it  is  true,  in  every 
century,  but  in  the  course  of  the  eighteen  which  have  elapsed, 
and  especially  during  the  first  and  second.  If  its  prevalence  and 
power  have  been  limited,  man  and  not  its  author  is  blamable, 
and  this  is  peculiarly  true  in  our  day  and  country. 

(3.)  If  our  recurrence  to  the  constitution  of  nature  be  deemed 
unfair,  because  the  interests  affected  are  by  no  means  equal  to 
those  of  religion,  or  if  it  be  said  that  the  provisions  for  man's  tem- 
poral welfare  are  scattered  very  generally  in  some  sort,  we  may 
furnish  in  the  case  of  natural  religion  a  consideration  which 
fully  relieves  us  of  all  pressure  from  such  allegations.  We  have 
seen  that  however  published,  by  its  evidences  being  everywhere 
patent,  in  the  providence  of  God,  its  prevalence  has  been  less  ex- 
tensive than  that  of  revealed  religion.  We  mean  the  prevalence 
of  those  truths  which  constitute  its  claims  to  be  called  a  religion. 
Its  power  has  been  far  less  exemplified.  Scarcely  a  dozen  deists 
have  ever  agreed  fully  on  its  principles.  None  have  fully  illus- 
trated them  by  consistent  lives.  Hypocrisy  is  as  glaring  in  its 
votaries,  as  in  professed  Christians.  Some  have  doubted  whether 
any  traces  of  it  could  be  found  in  the  world  but  for  Christianity. 
Certainly,  and  it  deserves  remark,  since  the  Christian  era,  its  de- 
velopments in  other  than  Christian  lands,  have  been  very  limited. 
Its  temples  adorn  no  cities.  It  has  neither  ministers  nor  altars, 
nor  rites,  nor  ordinances,  nor  worship.  Heaven,  earth  and  sea 
may  proclaim  with  voiceless  eloquence,  "  The  hand  that  made  us 
is  divine,"  but  man  makes  no  response.  Natural  creation  may  be 
vocal  with  harmonies  of  praise,  but  man's  voice  is  unheard  in  the 
swelling  anthem.  What  has  mere  natural  rehgion  ever  done? 
The  trophies  of  its  triumphs  are  yet  to  be  seen  in  reformed  socie- 
ties, happy  families,  patient,  meek,  humble  and  peaceable  men 


406  POPULAR   OBJECTIONS  TO   CHRISTIANITY. 

and  women.  Husbands  and  wives,  parents  and  children,  masters 
and  servants  are  yet  to  be  f  jund,  who  have  learned  their  duties 
from  its  precepts,  and  practised  them  under  its  sanctions.  On  the 
greatest  of  all  topics  in  any  religion,  it  is  silent.  By  no  sugges- 
tions of  reason,  no  analogies  of  nature,  no  records  of  experience, 
no  monuments  of  earth,  blackened  and  withered  by  the  curse  of 
God,  no  pealing  thunder,  no  convulsions  of  the  elements,  no  smil- 
ing landscape,  no  blushing  beauties  of  spring,  brilliant  glories  of 
summer,  or  sombre  shades  of  autumn,  in  short,  by  no  voice  from 
heaven,  earth  or  air,  has  it  ever  taught  how  God  could  be  just 
and  yet  the  sinner  saved.  In  no  dungeon  of  despair  has  it  cast  a 
ray  of  hope.  In  no  hovel  of  poverty  has  it  left  a  crumb  of  com- 
fort. In  no  scene  of  sorrow  has  it  mingled  its  joys.  No  widow's 
heart  has  ever  welcomed  its  consolations.  No  orphan's  tears  have 
been  dried  by  its  hands.  Athwart  no  dark  and  gloomy  tomb  of 
infancy  have  its  beams  been  shed.  From  no  bed  of  pain  and 
weakness,  disease  and  death,  have  been  heard  the  accents  of  its 
peace,  or  the  notes  of  its  triumphs.  No  portals  of  perdition  have 
been  closed  by  its  power.  No  heaven  of  glory  opened  to  its  voice. 
If  Christianity  is  to  be  despised  and  neglected  as  limited  and  fee- 
ble, much  more  must  the  boasted  religion  of  nature  be  discarded, 
and  from  the  toils  and  dangers  of  a  fatherless  world,  he  must 
launch  forth  on  the  dread  Unknown  of  Futurity,  without  rudder 
or  compass,  pilot  or  sail,  in  the  frail  and  foundering  wreck  of 
Atheism. 

We  conclude,  1.  That  as  on  those  topics,  which  are  common 
to  the  course  of  nature  and  Revelation,  objections  to  the  latter 
are  often  relieved  by  showing  that  they  apply  to  the  former,  we 
are  justified  in  receiving  Revelation,  even  although  objections 
derived  from  other  sources,  as  the  apparent  contradictions  of 
science  or  our  fallible  apprehensions  of  the  contents  of  the  Bible, 
may  still  exist.  For  as  we  receive  the  course  of  nature  to  be 
from  God,  notwithstanding  the  existence  of  some  very  grave  dif- 
ficulties, on  the  general  evidence  afforded  us,  so  we  may  believe 
Revelation  credible.  And  as  in  the  natural  world,  the  same 
faculties  of  investigation  and  the  same  phenomena,  from  which 
great  discoveries  have  been  made  and  great  objections  removed, 
have  been  long  possessed  by  men  before  such  results  were  at- 
tained, so  it  is  credible,  that  as  time  rolls  on,  existing  difficulties 
in  Revelation,  may  give  way  to  the  investigations  which  may 
yet  be  made.  This  has  actually  occurred  in  time  past.     We  should 


POPULAR   OBJECTIONS  TO   CHRISTIANITY.  407 

then,   on    the  whole,   very  modestly   urge   objections,  and  very 
cautiously  permit  them  to  influence  our  minds. 

2.  That  while  the  existence  of  difficulties  is  acknowledged,  yet 
there  is  such  an  appearance  of  truth  in  Christianity,  and  all  the 
objections  are  counterbalanced  by  such  strong  evidences  in  its 
favor,  we  ought  rather  to  suspect  such  difficulties  are  removable, 
than  the  contrary,  and  be  urged  to  diligence  in  prosecuting  our 
inquiries.  True  or  false,  Christianity  must  possess  some  in- 
herent vitality.  It  has  survived  the  rise  and  fall  of  numberless 
other  systems,  as  well  as  numberless  disasters,  aifecting  itself. 
That  appearance  of  truth  has  secured  for  it  the  suffrages  of  some 
of  the  acutest  minds,  the  most  profound  reasoners,  and  the  most 
splendid  geniuses  of  the  world.  A  system  claiming  as  adherents, 
such  men  as  Milton  and  Bacon,  Locke  and  Newton,  Pascal  and 
Leibnitz,  Chalmers  and  Edwards,  and  still  sustained  by  the  best 
men,  other  than  its  professed  advocates,  ought,  were  no  objections 
to  its  matter  capable  of  clear  resolution,  to  obtain  our  favorable 
regard.  And  since  all  leading  objections  of  this  class  are  con- 
futable, it  is  but  little  to  ask,  that  we  give  it  a  fair,  full,  and  im- 
partial hearing. 

3.  Sound  religious  knowledge  should  be  carefully  imparted  to 
the  young.  Infidelity  is  doubtless  often  more  of  the  heart  than 
of  the  head.  After  all  the  evidences  have  been  accumulated  and 
all  objections  confuted,  still  the  greatest  of  all  difficulties  remains. 
It  lies  back  of  reason.  Christianity  is  the  foe  of  sin,  which  the 
heart  is  loving.  The  natural  heart  opposes  it.  But  if  the  mind 
be  uninformed,  darkened  by  error  and  blinded  by  prejudice,  the 
avenues  to  the  heart  are  closed.  Let  these  be  kept  open  by  a 
sound  and  thorough  exhibition  of  the  truth  of  the  gospel  scheme, 
and  then  may  we  hope  successfully  to  approach  the  heart,  and  by 
the  word  of  God  and  the  Spirit  of  his  power,  subdue  its  opposition, 
resist  its  proclivity  to  evil,  and  renew  its  nature.  We  do  not  decry 
any  kind  of  learning.  But  however  enlightened  on  other  subjects, 
he  knows  nothing  commensurate  with  the  responsibilities  or  des- 
tinies of  man,  who  is  not  wise  to  salvation.  The  wisdom  which 
is  here  taught,  is  alone  permanent,  pure,  and  eternally  productive. 
The  "  fear  of  the  Lord"  is  its  beginning ;  to  know  Him,  love 
him,  and  see  him  as  he  is,  its  glorious  consummation. 

4.  Let  the  blessed  results  of  Christian  faith  evinced  in  the  lives 
and  deaths  of  its  true  professors,  be  contrasted  with  the  unfruit- 
ful works  of  that  darkness  which  is  unrelieved  by  a  ray  from 


408  POPULAR   OBJECTIONS  TO   CHRISTIANITY. 

heaven.  Let  the  generous  and  expansive  love,  the  zealous  and 
untiling  benevolent  labors,  and  the  self-denying  and  devoted 
faithfulness  of  the  Christian  be  compared  with  the  selfish  and 
contracted  tempers,  the  fierce  and  vindictive  passions,  and  the 
degrading  sensuality  or  deceitful  dealings  of  the  best  of  heathen. 
Above  all,  let  the  peace,  security,  and  triumph,  of  the  feeblest  of 
the  feeblest  sex  in  the  feeblest  hours  of  human  frailty,  under  the 
appalling  approaches  of  man's  most  terrible  enemy,  be  set  against 
the  dim  uncertainies,  the  gloomy  forebodings  and  often,  fearful 
premonitions  of  despair,  which  have  signalized  the  dying  hours 
of  the  caviller  and  skeptic,  and  with  all  objections  to  his  faith, 
reason  compels  the  exclamation,  "  Let  me  die  the  death  of  the 
righteous,  and  let  my  last  end  be  like  his." 


€^t  (Ktjjtinlngirnl  d^hjertinn : 

THE  UNITY  OF  THE  HUMAN  RACE. 


BT 

EEV.   T.   V.   MOOEE, 

EICHMONP,    VA. 


There  are  few  more  striking  scenes  in  ancient  history  than  the 
appearance  of  Paul  on  Mars  Hill,  before  an  audience  of  Athenians. 
As  a  mere  spectacle,  and  irrespective  of  any  interest  attachiiiff  to 
it  deeper  than  an  incident  in  the  past,  it  is  impressive,  and  indeed 
sublime.  Before  him  stretclied  one  of  the  most  magnificent  land- 
scapes on  which  the  sun  has  ever  shone.  At  his  feet  lay  the  city 
of  Pericles  and  Phidias,  a  gem  of  loveliness,  on  which  art  had 
lavished  the  perfection  of  her  most  exquisite  development,  and 
which  nature  had  set  in  the  glittering  beauty  of  forest,  river,  and 
sea,  shading  off  its  distant  bordering  with  the  more  rugged  gran- 
deur of  Pentelicus  and  Hymettus.  Around  him  gathered  the 
sneering  Epicurean,  the  stern  Stoic,  the  phlegmatic  Academician, 
the  cunning  priest,  the  mercurial  citizen,  jealous  of  the  glory  of 
his  peerless  metropolis,  and  the  motley  rabble  who  thronged  to  the 
Areopagus,  eager  to  hear  anything  new,  and  ready  to  break  out 
into  the  fiercest  rage,  if  that  novelty  should  prove  unpalatable  to 
their  whims,  their  prejudices,  or  their  passions.  Confronting  that 
restless,  excitable,  and  glaring  crowd,  stood  a  solitary  individual, 
not  heralded  by  national  glory  or  personal  fame,  an  unknown, 
unfriended  man,  from  an  obscure  and  despised  nation,  who  came 
to  fling  down  the  gauntlet  to  superstitions  venerable  with  an  un- 
dated antiquity,  gorgeous  with  all  that  art  could  create  in  the  very 
home  of  her  most  exquisite  perfection,  and  fortified,  at  once,  by  the 
passions  of  the  many  and  the  interests  of  the  few;  a  man,  who 
came  to  do  more  than  Socrates  had  ever  dared  or  Plato  had  ever 
done  ;  who  came  to  tell  the  Athenians  that  they  were  ignorant  on 
the  very  subject  where  they  considered  themselves  specially  intel- 
ligent, and  mistaken  on  the  very  points  where  they  were  most 
haughtily  confident ;  and  who  came  to  demand  their  renunciation 
of  the  sublime  teachings  of  their  renowned  schools,  and  their  entire 
submission  to  the  teachings  of  an  unknown  and  crucified  Jew. 
There  is  something  in  the  intrepid  heroism  of  such  a  position  that 
makes  it  one  of  the  most  striking  scenes  in  ancient  history. 


m 


412  THE  ETHNOLOGICAL  OBJECTION. 

But  it  has  elements  of  deeper  interest  than  this.  It  was  the 
Christianity  of  the  East  confronting  the  philosophy  and  civiHza- 
tion  of  the  West ;  the  reason  of  man  encountering  the  revelation 
of  God  ;  the  opening  passage  at  arms  of  that  great  contest  between 
science,  falsely  so  called,  and  the  truth  as  it  is  in  Jesus ;  a  contest 
which  has  been  continually  renewed  from  that  day  to  this,  with 
each  new  phase  of  a  godless  and  faithless  rationalism.  How  sug- 
gestive and  instructive  was  the  encounter  !  On  the  one  side  we 
see  a  quiet  and  unpretending,  but  fearless  and  trusting  spirit,  too 
confident  of  its  strength  to  lose  its  calm  heroism,  and  too  conscious 
of  its  weakness  to  forget  its  lowly  humility,  with  no  parade  of 
learmng  and  no  display  of  power ;  on  the  other  side,  a  proud, 
sneering,  and  conceited  spirit  inflated  with  a  confidence  in  its  own 
powers,  and  despising  the  presumptuous  babbler  who  had  never 
traversed  the  shades  of  the  Academy  or  learned  the  language  of 
the  Porch.  Yet  when  eighteen  hundred  years  have  passed,  the 
subtleties  and  logomachies  of  the  Epicurean  and  the  >Stoic  are 
forgotten,  whilst  the  loftiest  minds  and  the  purest  hearts  of  the 
race  are  bending  with  admiring  reverence  over  the  pages  of  this 
babbler  of  the  Areopagus.  The  philosophies  of  Zeno  and  Epicu- 
rus, Plato  and  Aristotle,  have  been  thrown  aside  as  antiquated 
and  obsolete,  whilst  the  Christianity  of  Paul,  to  the  last  letter  of 
its  teaching  is,  this  day,  sustaining  the  faith  and  brightening  the 
hope  of  millions. 

It  becomes  therefore  a  matter  of  instructive  interest  to  examine 
what  were  the  doctrines  deemed  essential  to  be  maintained  by 
Paul  in  this  encounter.  Occupying  a  position  of  such  extreme 
delicacy  and  danger,  he  would  peril  neither  his  cause  nor  his 
person  by  the  gratuitous  assertion  of  doubtful  or  irrelevant  propo- 
sitions. Before  an  audience  of  Athenians  and  philosophers,  whom 
his  whole  discourse  shows  he  was  anxious  to  conciliate  and 
convert,  he  would  adduce  nothing  but  the  most  essential  and  fun- 
damental truths  pertaining  to  Christianity,  truths  so  vital  as  to 
require  him  to  stake  his  cause  on  their  successful  defence.  What 
then  are  these  doctrines?  He  was  speaking  to  a  nation  of  poly- 
theists,  a  people  who  had  tenanted  every  rock  and  river,  every 
mountain  and  plain  with  their  innumerable  deities,  and  who,  hi 
the  thronging  multitudes  of  their  gods  and  demigods,  demons  and 
heroes,  had  lost  sight  of  the  one  great  unseen,  unchangeable,  but 
to  them,  unknown  Jehovah.  Hence  with  an  elegance  of  exor- 
dium, whose  tact,  beauty,  and  courtesy,  are  almost  unequalled  in 


THE   ETHNOLOGICAL   OBJECTION.  413 

the  history  of  ancient  eloquence,  he  assails  the  fundamental  posi- 
tion of  polytheism,  and  asserts  the  existence,  the  attributes,  the 
sovereignty  and  the  clamis  of  the  one,  great  God. 

But  he  was  also  addressing  a  people  who  regarded  themselves 
as  ahoxdoveg,  sprung  from  the  sacred  soil  of  Attica,  underived  and 
independent  of  all  other  famihes  of  mankind.  But  in  direct  con- 
tradiction to  a  theory  suggested  by  their  pride,  and  cherished  by 
their  philosophy,  Pauls  deems  it  essential  to  Christianity  to  assert 
that  the  unity  of  the  divine  involved  the  unity  of  the  human, 
that  the  oneness  of  the  source  from  which  the  race  of  man  came 
forth,  found  its  proper  counterpart  in  the  oneness  of  that  race  it- 
self, and  that  the  ethnological  distribution  of  that  race  was  not  a 
matter  of  random  chance,  but  of  specific  divine  appointment  and 
direction.  "  God  that  made  the  world  and  all  things  therein  hath 
made  of  one  blood  all  nations  of  men,  for  to  dwell  on  all  the  face 
of  the  earth  ;  and  hath  determined  the  times  before  appointed 
and  the  bounds  of  their  habitation."  Acts  xvii.  26.  Here  then 
in  the  very  first  encounter  of  Christianity  with  human  philoso- 
phy, its  great  expounder  asserts  as  essential  doctrines  in  its  teach- 
ings, that  all  men  have  been  derived  from  a  single  source,  having 
a  unity  of  blood-relationship,  which  implies  a  unity  of  origin  ;  and 
that  the  geographical  distribution  of  the  various  nations  or  fami- 
lies of  men,  and  the  epochs  of  their  history,  are  not  matters  of 
chance,  or  undirected  general  law,  but  of  specific  divine  appoint- 
ment. 

The  mere  fact  that  a  man  of  such  consummate  tact  and  cour- 
tesy as  Paul,  deemed  it  necessary  to  assert  the  unity  of  the  human 
race  among  a  people  who  held  its  diversity  by  claiming  for  them- 
selves a  separate  origin  on  the  soil,  is  a  proof  that  he  regarded  it 
as  essential  to  Christianity.  The  studied  adaptation  of  his  dis- 
course to  Athenian  customs  and  forms  of  thought  proves,  that  if 
this  doctrine  so  oflfensive  to  the  pride  of  that  jealous  and  scornful 
people,  could  have  been  suppressed  or  explained  away,  it  would 
have  been  done,  that  no  unnecessary  obstacle  might  be  thrown  in 
their  way  to  the  reception  of  Christianity.  But  side  by  side  with 
the  unity  of  the  divine  nature  does  he  place  the  unity  of  the 
human  race  as  a  truth  correlative,  supplementary,  and  equally 
essential  to  the  Christian  system. 

The  reason  of  this  juxtaposition  and  of  the  stress  laid  on  this 
doctrine,  is  involved  in  the  subsequent  parts  of  his  discourse.  He 
there  glances  at  the  dealings  of  God  with  the  human  race  in  the 


414  THE  ETHNOLOGICAL   OBJECTION. 

past,  present  and  future,  showing  in  those  deahngs  the  unity  of 
a  mighty  purpose  that  binds  all  tlie  race  in  one  common  destiny 
to  its  one  common  God,  the  twofold  aspects  of  which  .destiny  in 
their  terrible  contrasts  of  weal  and  of  woe,  shall  be  unfolded  in  the 
dread  scenes  of  a  common  resurrection  and  a  common  judgment. 
But  his  epistles  explain  more  fully  the  earnestness  and  prominence 
bestowed  on  this  doctrine.  The  theory  of  sin  and  redemption 
which  Paul  believed  to  underlie  the  entire  system  of  Christianity, 
reposes  in  its  last  analysis  on  the  unity  of  the  human  race. 

This  is  distinctly  and  emf>hatically  asserted  in  the  fifth  chapter 
of  Romans,  where  the  parallel  is  run  at  length  between  the  fall  of 
the  race  in  Adam  and  its  redemption  in  Christ.  "  By  one  man 
sin  entered  into  the  world,  and  death  by  sin,  and  so  death  passed 
upon  all  men."  "As  by  one  man's  disobedience  many  were  made 
sinners,  so  by  the  obedience  of  one  shall  many  be  made  right- 
eous." Rom.  V.  12,  19.  "  For  as  in  Adam  all  die,  even  so  in 
Christ  shall  all  be  made  alive."  "The  first  man  Adam  was 
made  a  living  soul,  the  last  Adam  was  made  a  quickening  spirit." 
'"The  first  man  is  of  the  earth,  earthy,  the  second  man  is  the 
Lord  from  heaven."  1  Cor.  xv.  22,  45,  47.  As  Adam  is  the 
natural  head  of  all  that  sin,  and  all  that  die,  so  Christ  is  the  spir- 
itual head  of  all  that  are  saved  from  the  guilt  of  that  sin,  and  the 
sting  of  that  death.  The  universal  headship  of  the  one  finds  its 
proper  and  only  counterpart  in  the  universal  headship  of  the  other. 
The  salvation  in  Christ  runs  parallel  with  the  depravity  that  is 
traced  to  Adam,  and  if  we  cut  off  any  portion  of  the  human  race 
from  its  connection  with  Adam,  we  thereby  cut  it  off  from  its  con- 
nection with  Christ,  and  all  the  hopes  that  are  garnered  up  in  his 
atoning  work.  If  we  close  to  any  nation  on  earth  the  pathway 
that  leads  to  Eden,  all  stained  though  it  be  with  blood,  and  all 
blistered  though  it  be  with  tears,  we  by  that  act  close  to  them 
the  more  precious  pathway  that  leads  to  Calvary,  and  deny  them 
the  boon  of  those  gushing  streams  that  come  forth  from  the  cross 
to  wash  away  the  dark  and  sorrowful  traces  of  sin  that  lie  all 
along  the  highway  of  human  history.  This  question,  therefore, 
is  not  one  of  mere  idle  speculation,  but  one  whose  relations  are 
entwined  with  all  that  is  most  precious  and  vital  to  Christianity. 

The  effort  to  evade  the  force  of  these  considerations  b}^  aflSrm- 
ivg  that  the  Bible  speaks  only  of  the  historic  races,  is  one  that 
demands  little  attention,  until  it  is  shown  that  the  non-historic 
races  neither  sin,  nor  die,  nor  have  any  capacity  of  sharing  salva- 


THE   ETHNOLOGICAL  OBJECTION.  415 

lion  in  Christ.  If  depravity  and  death  are  the  peculiar  heritage 
of  tiie  superior  races,  and  a  title  to  heaven  a  thing  dependent  on 
the  hue  of  the  cuticle  and  the  texture  of  the  hair,  then  we  may 
assert  the  original  diversity  of  the  race,  without  impeaching  the 
Bible.  But  if  in  Adam  all  sin  and  die  who  do  sin  and  die,  and  in 
Christ  all  are  made  alive  who  are  made  alive,  then  this  evasion 
of  the  manifest  teachings  of  the  Bible  is  to  stultify  Moses  and  to 
falsify  Paul.  That  Moses  must  have  known  of  the  existence  of 
the  colored  races,  is  evident  from  the  pictures  on  the  tombs  in 
Egypt,  dating  back,  it  is  alleged,  beyond  his  period,  and  distinctly 
portraying  these  races  as  we  find  them  now.  Yet  he  tells  us  that 
Adam  was  the  first  man  created  ;  that  Eve  was  the  mother  of  all 
living  ;  that  the  Ethiopic  and  Egyptian  races  were  descended  from 
Noah  through  Cush  and  Mizraim  ;  and  that  the  divided  nations 
of  the  earth  are  the  sons  of  Adam.  And  that  the  physical  char- 
acteristics of  the  Cushite  or  Ethiopian  were  what  they  are  now, 
is  proven  by  the  aphorism  alluding  to  his  skin.  The  same  doc- 
trine is  endorsed  by  our  Lord  when  he  enforces  monogamy  b}^  the 
original  unity  of  the  race  in  Adam  and  Eve,  and  when  to  fulfil 
the  prophecies  concerning  Ethiopia,  the  distant  nations,  and  the 
isles  of  the  sea,  he  commanded  his  disciples  to  go  forth  into  all  the 
world,  and  preach  the  gospel  to  every  creature.  And  we  cannot 
think  it  wholly  devoid  of  significance  that  the  man  who  was 
chosen  to  aid  our  Lord  in  bearing  his  cross  to  the  bloody  hill  was 
Simon  of  Cyrene,  an  African  ;  and  that  one  of  the  earliest  con- 
verts to  Christianity  was  an  eunuch  of  the  court  of  Candace, 
queen  of  Ethiopia. 

Hence  the  right  of  these  non-historic  races  to  the  salvation  of 
Christ  h.as  been  clearly  recognized  by  Christ  and  his  apostles,  and 
this  recognition  brings  after  it  the  implication  that  they  are  de- 
scended from  Adam,  by  the  express  teaching  of  Paul.  We  chal- 
lenge the  right  to  offer  the  salvation  that  is  in  Christ  to  any  crea- 
ture not  descended  from  Adam,  any  more  than  to  brutes  on  the 
one  hand  and  devils  on  the  other.  It  is  restricted  by  Paul  to  the 
sons  of  Adam,  so  that  whoever  proves  himself  a  son  of  Adam, 
thereby  proves  his  right  to  this  salvation;  and  vice  versa,  whoever 
proves  by  the  fact  that  he  is  saved,  that  he  has  a  rigiit  to  this 
salvation,  thereby  proves  his  descent  from  Adam.  The  doctrine, 
therefore,  of  the  unity  of  the  human  race  is  one  that  is  essential 
to  Christianity  as  Paul  aught  it,  and  hence  vital  to  the  divine 
origin  of  the  Bible. 


416  THE   ETHNOLOGICAL   OBJECTION. 

But  we  are  told  by  some  who  call  themselves  ethnologists,  that 
science  has  exploded  this  dogma,  and  shown  that  this  descent  of 
all  men  from  Adam  is  impossible,  and  hence  that  we  must  aban- 
don this  ground,  if  not  abandon  Christianity  itself.  Now  if  it  be 
true  that  the  unity  of  the  race  is  demonstrated  to  be  an  impossi- 
bility, we  must  acknowledge  ourselves  to  be  in  a  perplexity  at 
least,  if  not  an  inextricable  difficulty.  But  the  wonder  arises  how 
this  infant  science,  which  has  scarcely  left  its  leading  strings  should 
be  able  so  soon  to  pronounce  with  such  dogmatic  certainty  on  the 
possibilities  and  impossibilities  of  five  or  six  thousand  years  ago. 
The  very  word  impossibility  is  falling  out  of  the  vocabulary  of 
science,  since  the  alleged  impossibilities  of  one  year  are  becoming 
the  tritest  actualities  of  the  next.  When,  therefore,  we  find  this 
beardless  science,  in  any  of  its  advocates,  pronouncing  so  dog- 
matically on  this  high  and  solemn  question,  we  are  ready  to  infer 
that  it  has  not  only  the  bold  confidence  of  youth,  but  also  some 
of  its  rash  presumption.  This  inference  is  strengthened  by  the 
fact  that  so  many  of  the  first  scholars  of  the  world,  who  have 
been  studying  these  topics  for  years,  have  been  unable  to  perceive 
this  impossibility,  and  continue  to  maintain  this  exploded  doctrine. 
Were  the  question  to  be  decided  by  the  authority  of  great  names, 
we  would  be  perfectly  contented  to  place  the  two  classes  in  juxta- 
position, and  allovv^  the  decision  to  fall  where  the  lustre  of  scien- 
tific fame  is  brightest  and  broadest.  But  as  this  could  decide 
nothing  absolutely,  we  are  willing  to  come  to  closer  quarters,  and 
grapple  with  the  ethnological  objection  directly,  and  w'e  meet  the 
averment  that  the  specific  and  original  unity  of  the  human  race 
is  impossible  with  a  flat  and  emphatic  denial. 

We  wish  our  position  here  to  be  distinctly  understood.  We 
believe  that  the  question  of  the  exact  origin  of  the  different  varie- 
ties of  the  human  race  is  one  of  history  rather  than  of  physical 
science.  Hence  the  real  and  decisive  points  on  which  it  rests  are 
first:  Has  the  Bible  definitely  pronounced  on  this  subject?  and, 
secondly.  Is  the  Bible  inspired  of  God,  and  therefore  a  reliable  his- 
tory of  facts?  Both  these  points  we  believe  to  have  been  clearly 
proved,  and  hence  the  whole  weight  of  the  Christia-n  evidences 
must  be  set  aside  before  the  unity  of  the  race  can  be  demonstrated 
to  be  untrue.  It  is  however  alleged  as  an  objection  to  these  evi- 
dences that  science  has  shown  this  unity  to  be  impossible.  All 
therefore  that  we  are  bound  by  the  laws  of  disputation  to  do,  is  to 
make  out  a  simple  case  of  possibility,  and  the  whole  weight  of  the 


THE    ETHNOLOGICAL    OBJECTION.  417 

Bible  as  a  positive  testimony  on  tlie  point  remains  unimpaired. 
We  are  not  bound  to  show  how  the  varieties  of  the  race  have 
actually  arisen,  or  what  are  the  causes  now  or  formerly  at  work 
to  generate  them  ;  for  this  is  the  proper  province  of  science,  and 
not  of  theology.  If  however  we  should  be  able  to  show  by  admit- 
ted facts  and  principles  of  science  that  it  is  not  only  possible  but 
probable  that  the  varieties  of  the  race  have  had  a  common  origin, 
in  a  single  pair,  we  pass  beyond  the  absolute  necessities  of  our 
position  of  defence,  and  construct  an  independent  argument  in 
favor  of  the  scriptural  record,  the  value  of  which  will  be  in  precise 
proportion  to  the  strength  of  the  probability  we  may  be  able  to 
establish.  With  this  explanation  of  the  exact  position  we  occupy, 
we  are  willing  to  meet  the  ethnological  objection  on  its  own  chosen 
ground,  as  a  matter  of  simple  science. 

As  man  possesses  a  physical  constitution  precisely  analogous  to 
ihat  of  the  lower  animals,  it  is  perfectly  fair  for  us  to  argue  from  the 
laws  and  capabilities  of  the  one,  to  the  laws  and  capabilities  of  the 
other.  If  then  we  shall  find  on  examining  the  lower  tribes  that  they 
have  a  tendency  to  assume  the  same  diversities  of  appearance  that 
we  see  in  the  different  families  of  man,  in  cases  where  they  are 
known  to  have  had  the  same  original  parentage  ;  if  we  find  a  test  of 
common  origin  always  co-existing  with  these  diversities  also  exist- 
ing in  the  different  varieties  of  men  ;  if  we  find  constant  and  vari- 
able causes  producing  the  changes  in  the  lower  tribes  of  the  same 
origin,  which  we  see  in  the  races  of  men,  we  will  of  course  not  be 
at  liberty  to  infer  that  as  to  the  one,  which  we  know  would  be  un- 
true as  to  the  other.  We  propose  then  to  show  by  an  induction  of 
particulars,  from  the  most  recent  and  authentic  sources,  that  thei*? 
is  nothing  in  the  diversities  of  physical  feature  appearing  among 
men,  which  the  law  of  variation,  as  it  is  found  to  exist  in  other  de- 
partments of  animal  life,  as  well  as  in  the  natural  history  of  man^ 
does  not  permit  to  consist  with  origin  from  a  single  and  common 
source ;  and  hence  nothing  in  these  diversities  which  renders  it 
impossible  for  all  the  families  of  man  to  have  descended  from  a 
single  original  pair,  according  to  the  teachings  of  the  Bible. 

When  we  take  up  this  question  as  one  of  Natural  History,  it 
amounts  simply  to  this:  Are  the  diversities  appearing  among  men, 
as  to  their  physical  or  intellectual  peculiarities  such  as  to  prove 
that  they  are  different  species,  having  different  origins,  or  only 
euch  as  to  prove  that  they  are  different  varieties  of  the  same  spe^ 
cies,  having  the  same  origin  'I 

27 


4l8  THE   ETliXOLOGfCAL   OBJECTION. 

The  word  species  is  often  loosely  used  to  mean  any  class  ol 
individuals  possessing  characteristics  in  common.  In  zoology, 
however,  it  has  a  fixed  and  definite  sense.  This  sense  is  not  an 
arbitrary  invention  in  the  nomenclature  of  science,  but  a  perma- 
nent fact  ordained  in  the  very  constitution  of  organic  life.  A 
species  is  simply  a  tribe  of  living  things  descended  originally  from 
the  same  common  parentage.  The  fact  that  puts  them  in  the 
ciame  species,  is,  descent  from  the  same  original  stock.  Now,  as 
this  fact  cannot  always  be  ascertained  historically.  Nature  (by 
which  term  in  this  discourse  we  always  mean  the  God  of  Nature) 
has  left  a  mark  by  which  this  can  always  be  ascertained.  This 
mark  is  the  power  of  permanent  reproduction.  Like  always  pro- 
duces like,  and  not  unlike.  That,  therefore,  which  proves  the 
descent  of  the  offspring  from  the  parentage,  is  the  power  of  pro- 
ducing and  perpetuating  an  offspring  in  all  essential  respects  simi- 
lar to  that  parentage. 

That  this  is  not  a  position  assumed  for  the  sake  of  maintaining 
our  argument  might  be  shown  at  any  length  by  reference  to  ac- 
knowledged authorities  in  science.  Two  of  the  latest  and  highest 
in  the  departments  bearing  on  this  question  will  suffice.  Dr.  La- 
iham,  President  of  the  Ethnological  Society  of  London,  and  con- 
fessedly one  of  the  first  Ethnologists  of  the  age,  in  his  book  on  the 
Natural  History  of  the  Varieties  of  Man,  just  issued,  sums  up  the 
principles  and  facts  of  this  science  in  a  series  of  aphorisms,  three 
of  which  we  will  quote.  "  XXIL  A  protoplast  is  an  organized 
individual  capable  (either  singly  or  as  one  of  a  pair)  of  propagat- 
ing individuals,  itself  having  been  propagated  by  no  such  individ- 
ual or  pair."  XXVL  "A  species  is  a  class  of  individuals,  each 
of  which  is  hypothetically  considered  to  be  the  descendant  of  the 
same  protoplast,  or  of  the  same  pair  of  protoplasts."  XXVIL  "  A 
multiplicity  of  protoplasts  for  a  single  species  is  a  contradiction  in 
terms.  If  two  or  more  such  individuals  (or  pairs),  as  like  as  the 
two  Dromios,  were  the  several  protoplasts  to  several  classes  of 
organized  beings  (the  present  members  being  as  like  each  other 
as  their  ancestors  were)  the  phenomenon  would  be,  the  existence 
tin  Nature  of  more  than  one  undistinguishable  species,  not  the  ex- 
iistence  of  more  than  one  protoplast  to  a  single  species."  Pp.  563-4. 
Ijondon,  1851. 

Sir  C.  Ijyell  in  his  Elements  of  Geology  has  presented  the 
i?ame  views  drawn  from  his  department  of  science.  In  the  thirty- 
B'jventh  chapter  of  this  work  he  suras  up  the  conclusions  which 


THE  ethnologica:  objection.  419 

he  regards  as  established  by  geology  oa  this  question,  the  sixth 
of  which  is  as  follows :  "  From  these  considerations  it  appears 
that  species  have  a  real  existence  in  nature,  and  that  each 
was  endowed,  at  the  time  of  its  creation,  with  the  attributes 
and  organization  by  which  it  is  now  distinguished."  Seventh 
Edition,  p.  585.  His  other  conclusions  are  in  precise  accordance 
with  those  which  we  shall  now  present  in  regard  to  species  and 
varieties. 

There  are  two  great  facts  that  characterize  the  actions  of 
nature  in  regard  to  the  different  families  of  living  things :  the 
one  is  the  great  flexibiHty  and  adaptability  of  the  law  of  resem- 
blance within  certain  limits ;  the  other  is,  the  rigid,  inflexible  per- 
manence of  that  law  beyond  these  limits.  The  final  causes  of 
these  facts  or  laws  will  be  obvious  on  a  moment's  reflection. 

Tlie  first  law  is  essential  to  the  very  existence  and  advance- 
ment of  human  society.  The  earth  contains  many  varieties  of 
climate,  soil,  and  surface,  and  the  precise  physical  constitution 
adapted  to  one  place  would  be  very  unsuitable  to  another.  Hence, 
either  the  more  useful  races  of  animals  and  plants  must  be  con- 
fined to  their  original  locality  ;  or  a  new  creation  must  take  place 
whenever  a  new  country  is  to  be  settled  ;  or  there  must  be  in 
organic  life  a  power  of  adaptation  by  which  it  shall  conform  to 
the  new  circumstances  in  which  the  possessors  of  it  may  be 
placed.  The  necessities  of  man,  however,  demand  that  certain 
animals  and  plants  should  be  domesticated,  and  trained  to  the 
various  uses  for  which  they  may  be  needed,  and  that  they  be 
capable  of  transportation  with  him  in  his  various  migrations. 
Now,  if  the  peculiarities  of  each  species  were  unchangeable, 
domesticity  and  migration  would  be  impossible.  The  dog,  the 
horse,  the  sheep,  and  the  hog,  must  remain  in  their  original  wild- 
ness,  and  the  many  useful  varieties  of  these  important  races  be 
unknown.  The  plants,  fruits,  and  grains,  must  be  confined  to 
the  countries  to  which  they  were  indigenous,  and  be  incapable 
of  improvement  by  cultivation.  The  incentives  and  rewards  of 
human  industry  and  skill,  arising  from  the  wonderful  improve- 
ments that  may  be  made  by  cultivation,  and  acting  so  powerfully 
upon  the  civilization  and  advancement  of  the  world,  would  be 
wholly  wanting.  Therefore,  to  accomplish  the  obvious  purposes 
of  God  in  peopling  the  earth,  there  must  be  this  nisus  formativus 
in  organic  life,  by  which  the  various  tribes  of  living  things  may 
be  adapted  to  the  circumstances  of  their  position  and  the  wants 


420  THE   ETHNOLOGICAL   OBJECTION. 

of  man,  and  by  vvliich  a  stimulus  may  be  given  to  the  active  and 
inventive  faculties  of  social  and  civilized  life.  It  is  this  fact,  or 
tendency  in  organic  life,  which  gives  rise  to  those  endless  varieties 
of  different  species  which  we  find  everywhere  existing,  especially 
in  the  more  settled  and  advanced  states  of  society. 

But  the  second  law  is  equally  important.  If  this  capability  of 
variation  were  unlimited,  the  peculiarities  of  each  species  must  at 
last  be  wholly  obliterated.  If  the  different  species  could  amalga- 
mate without  limit,  and  produce  new  species  partaking  of  the 
characteristics  of  both  races  thus  commingled,  in  process  of  time 
the  existing  species  must  become  hopelessly  confounded,  the 
peculiarities  that  fit  them  for  their  various  positions  in  the  scale 
of  living  things  be  lost,  and  the  earth  become  a  scene  of  organic 
confusion.  Indeed,  had  this  law  not  been  always  in  existence, 
the  various  species  of  domestic  animals,  at  least,  w^ould  long  since 
have  disappeared  and  become  completely  blended  into  some 
strange  and  nondescript  monstrosity,  as  wild  as  a  sick  man's 
dream.  To  prevent  such  a  calamity  nature  has  set  up  an  im- 
passable barrier  between  the  different  species,  so  as  to  prevent 
their  permanent  intermixture.  It  is  this  fact  that  establishes  the 
conditions  of  hybridity.  A  hybrid  nidividual  may  be  produced 
between  two  different  species  but  never  a  hybrid  species,  for 
the  hybrid  is  barren,  and  cannot  perpetuate  its  kind.  And 
although,  in  two  or  perhaps  three  cases  (those  of  the  buffalo  and 
cow,  the  China  and  common  goose,  and  some  species  of  ducks), 
where  the  species  are  nearly  related,  the  power  of  reproduction 
exists  in  the  hybrid,  it  is  so  feeble  as  not  to  extend  beyond  the 
second  or  third  generation.  The  race  becomes  extinct,  and  hence 
the  hybrid  is  incapable  of  establishing  a  new  species.  Recent 
anatomical  investigations  show  that  an  actual  barrier  is  produced 
in  the  hybrid  making  the  power  of  propagation  impossible.  And 
universal  observation  shows  that  there  is  between  different  species 
an  invincible  repugnance  to  union,  so  that  death  is  often  the 
result  of  attempts  to  bring  them  together.  No  new  species  then 
can  be  produced  by  art  or  accident,  for  the  attempt  to  produce  it 
will  always  end  in  barrenness.  The  law  of  organic  life  is,  that 
each  creature  shall  propagate  its  own  kind  and  not  any  other. 
It  is  also  a  significant  indication  of  the  strength  of  this  law,  that 
mules,  or  hybrid  plants  and  animals,  very  rarely  occur  in  a  wild 
state.  They  are  usually  the  result  of  domesticity  or  specific  cul- 
ture, in  which  the  action  of  nature  is  forced  by  man,  and  in  such 


THE   ETHNOLOGICAL   OBJECTION.  Mi 

cases  her  displeasure  is  evinced  by  the  sterility  of  the  unnatural 
product.  Were  it  necessary,  we  could  give  a  page  of  hybrids 
between  different  species,  which,  in  spite  of  every  effort  to  the 
contrary,  have  been  found  absolutely  sterile.  The  fact,  then,  that 
hybrid  individuals  are  barren,  and  hence,  that  hybrid  species  or 
races  can  never  be  formed,  furnishes  us  with  a  clear  and  certain 
criterion  of  species  and  varieties.  If  we  find  the  power  of  per- 
manent reproduction  existing  between  any  two  classes,  we  know 
that  they  are  only  varieties,  and  belong  to  the  same  species.  If 
they  belong  to  the  same  species  we  infer  that  they  had  the  same 
origin,  for  we  have  seen  that  the  production  of  a  new  species  is 
impossible. 

The  application  of  these  views  to  the  question  before  us  is 
obvious.  We  know  that  the  different  races  of  men  freely  and 
permanently  amalgamate.  This  phenomenon  has  frequently 
been  seen,  and  new  races  possessing  the  power  of  permanent 
reproduction  have  frequently  been  formed,  and  are  now  in  actual 
process  of  formation.  The  fertility  of  the  mixed  races  of  men, 
therefore,  proves  them  to  belong  to  the  same  species  ;  and,  unless 
man  be  an  exception  to  all  other  races  of  living  things,  or  unless 
there  is  specific  historical  testimony  to  establish  the  contrary, 
proves  that  these  races  have  had  a  common  and  a  single  origin. 

The  most  strenuous  attack  that  has  ever  been  made  on  this  long- 
established  doctrine  of  natural  history,  has  been  by  Dr.  Morton  of 
Philadelphia.  In  an  essay  on  the  hybridity  of  animals  in  its  rela* 
lion  to  the  unity  of  the  human  races,  he  affirms  that  hybrid  races, 
with  the  power  of  permanent  reproduction,  are  capable  of  being 
formed  ;  and  hence  that  this  is  not  the  criterion  to  determine 
separate  species.  He  brings  together  an  imposing  array  of 
alleged  facts  to  sustain  this  position.  But  this  array  has  not  im- 
posed on  Dr.  Bachman,  however  it  may  have  on  Dr.  Morton. 
With  a  far  wider  knowledge  of  both  the  science  and  the  literature 
of  the  subject  than  even  his  learned  and  we  may  now  add,  his 
lamented  opponent.  Dr.  Bachman  has  taken  up  these  facts 
seriatim,  and  shown  with  the  clearness  of  demonstration,  that 
some  of  his  statements  are  not  authentic ;  that  others  are  dis- 
proved by  positive  countervailing  testimony  ;  that  others  are  so 
vague  and  indefinite  as  to  establish  nothing  with  certainty ;  that 
others  prove  the  very  position  which  he  attacks  ;  and  that  in  no 
case  has  it  been  proven  that  a  hybrid  race  or  species  has  been 
pi-oduced  or  perpetuated.    This  is  done  with  a  searching  thorough- 


422  THE   ETHNOLOGICAL   OBJECTION. 

ness  and  minuteness  of  refutation  that  leaves  literally  no  ground 
for  the  theory  to  rest  upon,  and  establishes  the  sterility  of  hybrids 
and  the  impossibility  of  hybrid  races  beyond  all  successful  con- 
tradiction. 

The  views  that  Professor  Agassiz  has  recently  thrown  out,  are 
only  in  partial  conflict  with  this  general  doctrine,  and  hence  need 
not  be  examined  in  this  immediate  connection. 

Here  then  we  might  rest  the  argument  for  the  unity  of  the  races, 
as  an  established  point  of  natural  history,  and  demand  proof  that 
man  was  an  exception  to  the  rest  of  the  animated  creation.  But 
we  are  willing  to  waive  this  advantage,  and  investigate  those  diffi- 
culties that  lie  in  our  path,  which  however  do  not  press  peculiarly 
on  our  position. 

The  great  difficulty  in  the  way  of  admitting  the  unity  of  the 
human  race,  is  the  number  and  marked  character  of  the  existing 
varieties.  It  is  alleged  that  these  varieties  are  so  broad,  so  per- 
manent, and  so  ancient,  that  we  are  forced  to  the  conclusion  that 
the  different  families  had  different  origins.  Let  us  then  examine 
the  law  of  varieties  as  it  exists  in  the  other  forms  of  organic  life, 
and  ascertain  whether  it  leads  us  to  this  conclusion.  If  we  find 
that  no  such  widely-mari^ed  and  permanent  varieties  appear  in 
them,  this  difficulty  will  be  formidable  to  the  theory  of  unity.  But 
if  we  find  in  tribes  that  are  known  to  belong  to  the  same  species 
and  to  have  had  the  same  origin,  varieties  appearing  as  broadly 
marked,  and  as  indelible  as  those  of  the  human  race — varieties 
which  when  once  produced  put  on  the  permanence  of  species  in 
their  characteristics, — then  it  will  follow  that  the  existence  of  sim- 
ilar varieties,  similarly  marked,  in  the  human  race,  can  be  no  valid 
proof  of  either  diversity  of  species  or  diversity  of  origin. 

We  have  already  remarked  that  it  is  a  law  of  Nature  that  varie- 
ties be  produced  within  the  same  species,  and  that  to  this  benefi- 
cent law  we  owe  much  of  the  comfort  and  improvement  of  our 
race.  These  varieties  are  sometimes  accidental,  originating  with- 
out any  known  cause.  A  striking  instance  of  this  law  of  acci- 
dental origin  is  found  in  the  otter  breed  of  sheep.  In  1791  one 
ewe,  on  the  farm  of  Seth  Wright,  in  Massachusetts,  gave  birth  to 
a  male  lamb,  which,  without  any  known  cause,  had  a  longer 
body  and  shorter  legs  than  the  rest  of  the  breed,  with  the  fore- 
legs crooked.  This  peculiar  form  rendering  it  unable  to  leap 
fenpes,  it  was  resolved  if  possible  to  propagate  this  accidental  vari- 
ety.   This  was  accordingly  done,  and  the  breed  received  its  name 


THE   ETHNOLOGICAL   OBJECTION.  ••J2S 

from  the  resemblance  of  its  bodily  form  to  that  .  *"  the  otter.  A 
race  of  swine  with  sohd  hoofs  arose  in  Hungary,  i.i  the  same  way, 
and  recently  the  same  singular  variety  has  made  its  appearance 
along  the  banks  of  the  Red  river  in  our  own  country,  without  any 
assignable  cause. 

But  varieties  are  more  frequently  formed  from  causes  acting  uni- 
formly and  regularly,  such  as  climate,  food,  habit  of  life,  etc.,  in 
the  states  of  wildness  and  domesticity.  Whilst  we  are  unable  to 
say  what  the  precise  mode  of  action  is,  the  general  fact  is  clear, 
that  where  animals  are  subjected  to  any  new  circumstances  such 
as  these,  there  is  an  instant  effort  in  Nature  to  accommodate  her- 
self to  these  circumstances,  and  if  there  is  sufficient  constitutional 
energy  to  endure  this  struggle,  the  result  is  a  change  in  the  phys- 
ical peculiarities  which  are  adapted  to  the  change  in  the  outward 
circumstances.  This  is  the  great  law  of  compensation  that  runs 
through  all  organic  life,  and  is  one  of  the  most  mysterious  and 
beautiful  in  the  economy  of  Nature.  It  is  the  great  analogue  to 
the  adaptive  susceptibilities  of  the  social  world,  which  illustrates 
the  wonderful  correspondences  that  we  find  running  through  all 
the  manifestations  of  that  dread  and  glorious  mystery — Life. 

It  is  difficult  to  trace  our  domestic  animals  to  their  original 
stocks,  owing  to  the  remoteness  of  the  period  of  their  subjugation 
by  man.  The  original  types,  in  many  cases,  seem  to  have  dis- 
appeared, the  necessity  for  their  continued  existence  no  longer  re- 
maining. The  oxen,  horses,  goats,  etc.  which  we  now  find  wild, 
are  more  frequently  derivations  from  the  domesticated  varieties. 
than  types  from  which  those  varieties  were  originally  derived. 
But  the  transition  from  domesticity  to  wildness  furnishes  us  with 
a  standard  by  which  to  judge  of  the  changes  effected  in  the  con- 
'trary  transition  ;  and  although  it  is  doubtful  whether  the  original 
type  is  ever  entirely  restored  in  such  cases,  yet  we  have,  at  least, 
an  illustration  of  the  law  of  variations,  and  the  tendency  in  or- 
ganic life  to  put  on  new  characteristics  when  subjected  to  ne\v 
influences. 

Happily  for  our  purpose  we  have  a  series  cf  authentic  experi- 
ments, made  on  a  scale  sufficiently  extended  to  afford  us  the  finest 
possible  illustration  of  this  great  law.  The  Spaniards,  when  they 
discovered  this  country,  found  none  of  the  domestic  animals  exist- 
ing here  which  were  used  in  Europe.  They  were  accordingly  in- 
troduced, and  escaping  and  straying  from  their  owners,  they  have 
run  wild  in  rur  vast  forests  for  several  centuries.     The  result  has 


42-i  THE   ETHNOLOGICAL   OBJECTION. 

been  the  obliteration  of  the  characteristics  of  the  domesticated 
animals,  and  a  reappearance  of  some  of  the  typal  marks  of  the  wild 
state ;  and  a  generation  of  new  and  striking  characteristics  in  ac- 
commodation to  these  new  circumstances. 

The  wild  hog  of  our  forests  bears  a  striking  likeness  to  the  wild 
boar  of  the  old  world.  The  hog  of  the  high  mountains  of  Paramos 
resembles  the  wild  boar  of  France.  Instead  of  being  covered  with 
bristles,  however,  as  the  domestic  breeJ  from  which  they  sprang, 
they  have  a  thick  fur,  often  crisp,  and  sometimes  an  under-coat  of 
wool.  Instead  of  being  generally  white  or  spotted,  they  are  uni- 
formly black,  except  in  some  warmer  regions,  where  they  are  red, 
like  the  young  pecari.  The  anatomical  structure  has  changed, 
adapting  itself  to  the  new  habits  of  the  animal,  in  an  elongation 
of  the  snout,  a  vaulting  of  the  forehead,  a  lengthening  of  the  hind 
legs,  and  in  the  case  of  those  left  on  the  island  of  Cubagua,  a 
monstrous  elongation  of  the  toes  to  half  a  span. 

The  ox  has  undergone  the  same  changes.  In  some  of  the  prov- 
inces of  South  America  a  variety  has  been  produced  called  "pel- 
ones,"'  having  a  very  rare  and  fine  fur.  In  other  provinces  a 
variety  is  produced  with  an  entirely  naked  skin,  like  the  dog  of 
Mexico  or  of  Guinea.  In  Colombia,  owing  to  the  immense  size  of 
farms  and  other  causes,  the  practice  of  milking  was  laid  aside,  and 
the  result  has  been  that  the  secretion  of  milk  in  the  cows  is,  like 
the  same  function  in  other  animals  of  this  class,  only  an  occa- 
sional phenomenon,  and  confined  strictly  to  the  period  of  suck- 
ling the  calf.  As  soon  as  the  calf  is  removed,  the  milk  ceases  to 
flow,  as  in  the  case  of  other  mammals. 

The  same  changes  have  taken  place  in  other  animals.  The 
wild  dog  of  the  Pampas  never  barks  as  the  domestic  animal  does, 
but  howls  like  the  wolf;  whilst  the  wild-cat  has  in  like  manner  lost 
the  habit  of  caterwauling.  The  wild  horse  of  the  higher  plains  of 
South  America  becomes  covered  with  a  long,  shaggy  fur,  and  is 
of  an  uniform  chestnut-color.  The  sheep  of  the  Central  Cordil- 
leras, if  not  shorn,  produces  a  thick,  matted,  woolly  fleece,  which 
gradually  breaks  off  in  shaggy  tufts,  and  leaves  underneath  a 
short,  fine  hair,  shining  and  smooth,  like  that  of  the  goat,  and  the 
wool  never  reappears.  The  goat  has  lost  her  large  teats,  and  pro- 
duces two  or  three  kids  annually.  The  same  changes  have  been 
produced  in  geese  and  gallinaceous  fowls.  A  variety  has  sprung 
up,  called  rumpless  fowls,  which  want  from  one  to  six  of  the  cau- 
dal vertebrae. 


THE   ETHNOLOGICAL    OBJECTION,  426 

The  same  varieties  have  sprung  up  in  other  parts  of  the  world. 
The  fat-tailed  sheep  of  Tartary  loses  its  posterior  mass  of  fat,  when 
removed  to  the  Steppes  of  Siberia,  whose  scant  and  bitter  herbage 
is  less  favorable  to  the  secretion  of  adipose  matter.  The  African 
sheep  has  become  large  like  a  goat,  and  exchanged  its  wool  for 
l»air.  The  Wallachian  sheep  has  put  on  large,  perpendicular, 
spiral  horns,  and  in  like  manner  become  clothed  with  hair.  Some 
also  have  four,  and  even  six  horns.  The  wild  horses  of  eastern 
Siberia  have  the  same  anatomical  differences  from  the  tame  ones 
that  we  noticed  in  the  case  of  the  swine;  and  culture,  climate,  and 
other  causes,  have  produced  the  widest  varieties — from  the  little, 
shaggy  pony  of  the  Shetlands,  that  scrambles  up  the  Highland 
crags  like  a  goat,  to  the  gigantic  steed  of  Flanders,  or  the  Cones- 
toga  of  Pennsylvania,  which  will  sometimes  drag  a  load  of  four 
tons  on  the  level  ground.  Whether  the  dog  and  the  wolf  are  of 
the  same  species,  is  a  question  about  which  there  is  some  differ- 
ence of  opinion  among  naturalists ;  but  there  is  a  very  general 
agreement  that  all  varieties  of  the  dog  must  be  referred  to  one 
species.  Between  these  there  is  the  widest  difference — from  the 
gigantic  St.  Bernard  that  will  carry  a  frozen  traveller  to  the  con- 
vent, the  shaggy  Newfoundland  with  his  webbed  feet  and  his 
aquatic  habits,  and  the  scentless  and  almost  tongueless  grey- 
hound ;  to  the  little  lap-dog  that  nestles  in  a  lady's  arms,  the 
nosing  foxhound  whose  scent  is  almost  a  miracle,  the  ratting  ter- 
rier, and  the  naked  Mexican  dog  that  has  an  additional  toe. 
The  cow  presents  the  most  diverse  varieties — from  the  little 
Surat  ox,  not  larger  than  a  dog,  to  the  humped  and  long-eared 
Brahmin  cow,  and  the  gigantic  prize  ox  that  will  weigh  two  tons. 
The  domesticated  fowls  and  pigeons  have  assumed  varieties 
enough  to  fill  a  page,  some  of  them  of  the  most  diverse  character, 
varying  from  the  largest  size  to  the  most  dwarfish,  and  possessing 
every  peculiarity  compatible  with  the  preservation  of  the  species, 
in  the  feathers,  the  form,  the  wattles,  and  the  psychological  traits 
and  habits. 

From  this  brief  summary  of  facts,  which  might  be  indefinitely 
extended,  we  may  infer  the  law  of  variation  in  animal  life,  as  to  its 
extent.  Within  the  limits  of  the  preservation  of  the  type  of  the 
species,  the  widest  variations  may  occur  in  anatomical  structure; 
in  external  properties,  in  the  color  of  the  skin,  in  the  color  and 
texture  of  the  hair,  in  the  features,  and  in  the  psychological  hab- 
its ;  and  these  peculiarities  once  produced  may  pass  into  permanent 


426  THE    ETHNOLOGICAL   OBJECTIOX. 

varieties,  whit»:  shall  assmne  all  the  indelibility  of  species.  And 
this  remarkable  fact  may  h^  observed,  that  the  nearer  the  animal 
approaches  to  man  in  its  associations  and  habits,  the  wider  the 
range  of  variation.  The  dog,  who  is  man's  companion  and  imitator, 
more  nearly  than  any  other  animal, — who  hunts  with  him  in  the 
forest,  watches  with  him  over  the  flock,  lies  down  by  his  fireside, 
and  shares  his  food, — has,  perhaps  the  widest  range  of  variet3\  So 
the  roots  and  grains  that  are  most  used  by  man  have  the  most  va- 
rieties. The  potato  has  more  than  one  hundred  varieties  ;  and  Dr. 
Bach  man  relates  that  he  saw  at  one  warehouse,  more  than  one  hun- 
dred kinds  of  wheat.  The  fact  then  stands  broadly  out,  that  the 
widest  varieties  may  occur  among  animals  that  are  known  to  be- 
long to  the  same  species.  Hence,  when  we  come  to  man  himself, 
and  find  varieties  existing  that  are  widely  ditferent  from  each  other, 
we  see  in  the  range  and  extent  of  these  varieties  nothing  which 
this  law  of  variation  in  the  lower  tribes  declares  to  be  at  variance 
with  the  position  that  these  races  all  belong  to  the  same  species 
and  possess  the  same  origin. 

But  the  law  of  variation  we  find  as  clearly  marked  in  its  perma- 
nence, as  we  have  found  it  in  its  extent.  The  general  fact  is,  that 
varieties,  when  once  formed,  never  return  to  their  original  t^'^pe,  if 
left  to  themselves.  They  may  be  changed  into  new  varieties,  by 
being  subjected  to  new  circumstances;  but  if  left  alone,  they  will 
perpetuate  their  own  characteristics,  and  not  those  from  which  they 
have  departed.  The  motto  of  nature  is  nulla  vestigia  retrorsirm. 
The  stream  never  flows  backward  to  the  fountain.  The  variety 
may  have  been  produced  by  accident;  but  once  produced,  it  puts 
on  the  unyielding  tenacity  of  a  species.  It  may  pass  into  a  new 
variety,  but  this  will  rarely  if  ever  be  the  exact  type  of  the  original 
species.  Some  varieties  of  the  dog  have  been  in  existence  for 
centuries,  and  their  precise  origin  is  lost  in  the  past.  These  va- 
rieties have  necessarily  assumed  all  the  tenacious  permanence  of 
species,  to  have  maintained  for  so  many  years  a  distinct  existence. 
The  final  cause  of  the  permanence  of  varieties  is  identical  with 
that  of  the  permanence  of  species.  The  same  beneficent  reasons 
which  demand  that  the  valuable  properties  of  a  species  should 
not  be  lost  by  the  extinction  or  amalgamation  of  that  species,  also 
require  that,  when  a  variety  has  been  called  forth  by  peculiar  cir- 
cumstances, that  variety  should  be  permanent. 

If,  therefore,  we  find  that  the  varieties  of  the  human  race  remain 
permanent,  although  the  chmatic  or  other  influences  under  which 


THE    ETHNOLOGICAL   OBJECTION.  427 

we  find  them  may  be  changed ;  if  we  find  that  the  black,  red,  and 
white  races  continue  to  propagate  their  pecuharities,  although  their 
original  geographical  positions  should  be  exchanged,  we  find  in 
this  fact  nothing  which  is  at  variance  with  the  law  of  varieties,  as 
we  have  just  found  it  to  exist  in  the  lower  tribes. 

Having  thus  learned  the  law  of  variation,  within  the  limit  of 
species,  as  to  the  lower  families  of  animated  nature,  we  turn  to 
the  varieties  of  the  human  race,  and  inquire  whether  there  is  any- 
thing in  them,  as  to  their  extent  or  permanence,  inconsistent  with 
unity  of  origin  and  unity  of  species. 

When  we  come  to  examine  these  varieties  in  detail,  we  find 
them  to  be  neither  so  many,  nor  so  great,  as  we  find  them  in  other 
animals  confessedly  of  the  same  species,  and  of  the  same  parent- 
age. The  difference  between  the  fairest  Caucasian  and  the  sootiest 
African,  is  not  nearly  so  great  as  that  between  the  little,  shaggy, 
Shetland  pony,  and  the  gigantic  dray-horse  of  London  ;  or  between 
the  soft  and  silky  lap-dog,  and  the  majestic  St.  Bernard.  The 
differences  we  have  already  noted  between  the  oxen,  hogs,  horses 
and  goats  that  run  wild  in  our  forests,  and  the  breeds  from  which 
they  are  known  to  have  sprung,  are  far  greater  than  we  find  be- 
tween any  two  races  of  men  on  earth. 

It  is  by  means  of  the  number,  importance,  and  permanence  of 
file  resemblance  between  individuals  ;  and,  also,  by  the  fact  of  their 
capability  to  unite  and  produce  fertile  progeny,  that  we  are  enabled 
to  class  them  in  the  same  species.  This  is  the  rule  adopted  as  to 
all  other  departments  of  natural  history,  and  hence  the  rule  that 
should  govern  us  here.  Now,  when  we  examine  the  various  races 
of  men,  we  find  that  they  agree  among  themselves  and  differ  from 
all  other  animals  in  many  marked  characteristics.  They  resemble 
each  other  in  the  number,  the  length,  the  position,  the  growth,  and 
the  shedding  of  the  teeth ;  in  the  shortness  of  the  lower  jaw,  and 
the  obliteration,  at  a  very  early  period  of  embryonic  existence,  of 
all  trace  of  the  original  separation  between  the  maxillary  and  in- 
termaxillary bones  ;  in  the  number  of  bones  in  the  skeleton  ;  in  an 
erect  stature ;  in  the  articulation  of  the  head  with  the  spinal 
column  by  the  middle  of  its  basis;  in  the  possession  of  two  hands, 
and  they  of  the  most  exquisite  mechanism  ;  in  a  smooth  skin, 
and  the  head  covered  with  hair ;  in  the  number  and  arrangement 
of  the  muscles,  the  digestive  and  other  organs;  in  the  great  de- 
velopment of  the  cerebral  hemispheres,  and  the  size  of  the  brain 
compared  with  the  nerves  connected  with  it ;  in  the  organs  of 


428  THE   ETHNOLOGICAL   OBJECTION. 

speech,  and  the  power  of  singing  and  laughing;  in  being  ottiniv- 
orous  and  using  cooked  food,  and  therefore  fire ;  in  the  capability 
of  inhabiting  all  climates ;  in  a  long  infancy,  slow  growth,  and 
late  puberty  ;  in  a  peculiar  structure  of  the  physical  constitution  of 
the  female,  in  the  incurvation  of  the  sacrum  and  os  coccygis,  and 
consequent  forward  direction  of  the  organs  connected  with  them ; 
in  the  period  of  gestation  ;  in  the  number  of  young  at  a  birth  ; 
in  the  times  and  seasons  of  procreation  ;  in  liability  to  the  same 
diseases,  the  same  parasitical  insects  and  worms  ;  and  above  all, 
in  the  possession  of  mental,  moral  and  religious  faculties,  which 
make  them  subjects  of  the  government  of  God,  and  responsible  to 
his  law,  as  well  as  capable  of  organized  society,  and  the  various 
phenomena  of  civilization.  Now  if  these  momentous  resemblan- 
ces and  peculiarities  do  not  classify  the  human  races  into  one 
species,  how  can  a  case  of  species  ever  be  made  out?  If  all  these 
essential  resemblances,  together  with  the  capability  of  blending 
the  different  races  and  producing  fertile  varieties,  do  not  prove  unity 
of  species,  and,  therefore,  by  the  admitted  rules  of  natural  history, 
unity  of  origin,  what  conceivable  facts  could  establish  it? 

But  if  the  varieties  of  the  human  race  were  much  more  widely 
marked  than  we  see  them,  there  would  be  in  this  no  insuperable 
objection  to  their  original  and  specific  unity.  The  same  general 
reasons  that  require  varieties  to  exist  in  organic  life  at  all,  demand 
a  wider  margin  for  them  in  man  than  in  any  other  animal.  His 
range  of  being  is  wider ;  his  circumstances  and  necessities  more 
varied  and  numerous ;  his  destinies  higher  in  the  event  of  obedience, 
and  lower  in  the  event  of  disobedience,  to  the  laws  under  which  he 
is  placed  ;  his  capabilities  of  self-culture  are  more  expansive,  that  a 
stronger  stimulus  might  be  applied  to  his  active  powers,  and  hence, 
as  a  correlative  fact,  his  liability  to  degeneracy,  if  that  culture  be 
neglected,  is  proportionally  wide  in  its  range ;  and  his  entire  posi- 
tion as  the  responsible  head  of  the  creation  demands  a  broader 
scope  for  change  to  the  better,  and  hence  by  possibility  to  the  worse,; 
than  any  other  animal  on  earth.  We  would  therefore  naturally 
expect  a  wider  variation  in  all  those  characteristics  that  are  affect- 
ed by  the  outward  circumstances  in  which  he  is  placed.  He  in- 
habits every  climate — from  the  frozen  snows  of  the  Arctics,  where 
the  reindeer  perishes  with  cold,  to  the  burning  sands  of  Sahara, 
and  the  steaming  jungles  of  the  Carnatic.  He  subsists  on  every 
species  of  food — from  the  dripping  blubber  and  train-oil  of  the 
Esquimaux,  to  the  cooling-  fruits  and  simple  cereals  of  the  naked 


THE   ETHNOLOGICAL   OBJECTION.  429 

dweller  in  the  tropics.  He  adopts  every  mode  of  life — from  that 
of  the  lean  and  hungry  hunter  who  scours  the  forest  and  plain  for 
his  daily  food,  or  the  wandering  herdsman  who  tends  his  vast 
flocks  by  day  and  by  night  on  the  boundless  Steppe  and  beneath 
the  silent  stars  that  looked  down  on  the  Chaldean  shepherds,  to  the 
peaceful  tiller  of  the  soil,  the  moiling  artisan  of  the  shop,  and  the 
luxurious  inmate  of  the  princely  mansion.  He  is  subjected  to  the 
extremes  of  civilization  and  barbarism — influences  the  most  potent, 
as  facts  before  our  eyes  demonstrate,  where  a  few  families  are  left 
for  a  generation  or  two  in  ignorance,  isolation  and  poverty  ;  and 
influences  which  cannot  to  any  very  great  extent  be  brought  to 
bear  on  the  lower  tribes.  If  then  we  should  find  the  varieties  of 
the  human  races  broader  and  more  indelible  than  those  of  other 
animals,  we  would  find  nothing,  in  this  fact,  which  the  causes  just 
alluded  to  would  not  have  led  us  to  anticipate.  That  we  do  not 
find  them  much  wider  than  they  really  are,  is  the  result  of  that 
principle  of  resistance  to  external  agencies  with  which,  for  obvious 
reasons,  man  as  a  cosmopolite  has  been  endowed,  a  principle  which 
whilst  it  resists  the  tendency  to  assume  changes,  gives  a  corre- 
sponding permanence  to  changes  that  are  assumed,  whatever  be 
the  cause  of  that  assumption. 

But,  great  as  these  influences  are,  we  are  by  no  means  certain 
that  yet  greater  may  not  have  existed  in  a  former  age  of  our 
world's  history.  That  the  climate  of  different  portions  of  the  earth's 
surface  is  not  now  what  it  once  was,  is  rendered  almost  certain  by 
some  of  the  earth's  geological  records.  And  that  some  of  these 
changes  of  climate  have  taken  place  since  the  creation  of  man,  is 
also  a  fact  of  high  probability.  Whatever  w^as  the  extent  of  the 
Noachic  deluge,  the  physical  conditions  that  affect  the  human 
race  must  have  been  seriously  modified  by  it.  The  longevity  of 
the  antediluvians,  and  other  facts  testified  both  by  Scripture  and 
tradition,  would  seem  to  indicate  that  some  change  occurred  either 
in  the  physical  constitution  of  the  race,  or  the  outward  conditions 
aflfecting  it,  at  that  time.  And  although  we  do  not  believe  that 
the  human  race  was  created  in  a  state  of  infantile  imperfection  in 
any  respect,  or  that  the  pliancy  of  individual  infancy  can  be  pred- 
icated of  the  early  stages  of  the  human  race,  yet  there  may  have 
been  a  quicker  susceptibility  in  forming  varieties,  and  a  stronger 
tenacity  in  retaining  them  then,  than  we  find  in  after  periods  of 
its  history.  When  a  colony  of  men  are  separated  from  a  parent 
stock,  and  lay  the  foundations  of  a  nation,  there  is  a  stronger 


430  THE   ETHNOLOGICAL   OBJECTION. 

tendency  to  assume  distinctive  features,  growing  out  of  their  new 
circumstances  than  we  find  at  a  later  period  of  their  existence. 
National  peculiarities,  both  physical  and  intellectual,  may  then  be 
acquired  in  a  few  years  which  will  continue  for  many  generations. 
Hence,  if  in  the  early  and  forming  stages  of  the  human  race,  we 
should  suppose  a  similar  tendency  to  assume  distinctive  character- 
istics, stronger  than  we  find  at  a  later  period,  because  the  circum- 
stances were  necessarily  different,  there  is  nothing  in  this  which 
the  soundest  philosophy  would  contradict. 

But  it  by  no  means  follows  that  no  more  potent  agency  was  at 
work  in  these  early  ages  of  our  history,  than  those  which  now 
exist  in  our  nature,  and  are  called  out  by  the  circumstances  which 
demand  their  action.  Assuming  the  agency  of  Divine  Providence 
in  the  destinies  of  nations,  the  same  reasons  that  required  a  dis- 
persion of  men,  and  the  confusion  of  their  tongues  at  Babel,  would 
also  seem  to  require  their  separation  by  physical  features  as  broad 
and  indelible  as  the  distinctions  of  language.  If  then  there  was 
even  an  extraordinary  operation  of  divine  agencies  tending  to 
produce  diversity  of  physical  features,  as  the  Bible  assures  us  there 
was  to  produce  diversity  of  languages  ;  if  these  original  diversities 
were  propagated  and  made  permanent,  by  the  isolation  and  restric- 
tive intermarriage  of  the  respective  families  thus  separated  ;  and  if 
the  general  purposes  of  God,  and  destinies  of  the  race,  were  to  be  ad- 
vanced by  nations  separated  in  their  features  as  well  as  their  lan- 
guage, there  is  nothing  unscriptural  or  unreasonable  in  the  hypo- 
thesis that  thus  some  of  these  widest  diversities  may  have  origina- 
ted. Hence,  if  we  should  be  unable  to  state  historically  the  precise 
origin  of  all  these  varieties  ;  if  there  should  be  no  known  causes 
operating  at  present  to  produce  new  races,  more  than  to  produce 
new  languages  ;  if  existing  causes  should  be  clearly  ascertained  to 
be  insufl[icient  to  account  for  the  appearance  of  the  different  races 
of  men  so  early  as  we  find  them  noticed  in  history — there  would 
be  nothing  in  this  state  of  facts  to  shake  the  doctrine  of  the  original 
unity  of  these  races.  If  we  must  assert  an  interposition  of  divine 
power,  as  our  opponents  contend,  the  rules  of  hypothesis  require 
us  not  to  assume  a  higher  cause  or  interposition  if  a  lower  is  suffi- 
cient to  explain  the  effect.  Now,  if  instead  of  admitting,  as  they 
assert,  a  creative  interposition  of  God,  calling  these  varieties  into 
existence  from  nonentit}^,  we  simply  assert  a  directive  interposition, 
causing  different  families  already  in  existence  to  assume  certain 
peculiarities  which  should  be  permanent,  our  hypothesis,  presenting 


THE   ETHNOLOGICAL   OBJECTION.  481 

a  lower,  yet  a  sufficient  cause,  is  obviously  the  more  philosophical 
and  reasonable.  Hence,  were  it  clearly  proven  (which  it  has  not 
been),  that  existing  causes,  or  natural  causes  once  acting  more 
powerfully  than  they  do  at  present,  could  not  explain  these  effects, 
then,  on  the  supposition  that  our  race  is  a  fallen  one.  and  that 
great  problems  of  ontology  are  slowly  evolving  in  its  various  fam- 
ihes  ;  and  that,  like  the  river  that  went  out  from  Eden,  this  mighty 
stream  of  life,  though  originally  one,  has  been  separated  into  great 
heads,  each  of  which  has  itself  become  a  broad  river,  and  gor^e 
forth  to  compass  the  earth — the  position  that  this  separation  and 
division,  like  that  of  Babel,  was  caused  by  specific  divine  interpo- 
sitions no  longer  needed  and  no  longer  exerted,  is,  of  the  two 
demanded,  the  more  reasonable,  philosophical,  and  Scriptural. 

But  whilst  we  believe  this  hypothesis  to  be  a  legitimate  one  in 
the  discussion,  should  existing  causes  be  demonstrated  inadequate 
to  account  for  the  varieties,  we  need  not  take  any  special  advan- 
tage of  it.  It  has  not  been  demonstrated  that  these  causes  are 
insufficient,  but  on  the  contrary  many  facts  exist  which  tend  to 
prove  the  opposite  position.  The  law  of  variations,  which  we  saw 
existing  in  the  lower  tribes,  is  found  to  exist  in  the  human 
constitution,  as  clearly  as  in  the  other  departments  of  animal  life. 
Permanent  causes  are  in  constant  operation,  and  accidental  pecu- 
liarities arise,  from  both  of  which  sources  varieties  appear  whose 
characters  are  deep  and  permanent. 

It  is  impossible -for  us,  in  the  present  state  of  our  physiological 
knowledge,  to  explain  the  precise  mode  in  which  changes  are  pro- 
duced in  the  physical  constitution,  by  a  change  of  geographical 
location.  But  the  fact  is,  that  there  is  in  the  constitution  of  man 
a  tendency,  such  as  we  saw  in  that  of  the  lower  tribes,  to  put  on 
certain  changes  of  color,  iiair,  form,  etc.,  when  removed  from  one 
climate  and  locality  to  another,  or  when  subjected  to  any  great 
change  of  social  habits.  Whether  the  external  condition  of  these 
changes  be  the  chemical  solar  rays ;  the  altitude  or  depression  of 
the  general  level ;  the  difference  of  geological  formations  ;  the  vary- 
ing agencies  of  magnetism  and  electricity ;  atmospheric  peculiari- 
ties ;  miasmatic  exhalations  from  vegetable  or  mineral  matter ; 
difference  of  soils  ;  proximity  to  the  ocean  ;  variety  of  food,  habits 
of  life  and  exposure — all  of  which  perhaps  at  times  come  in  play — 
or  other  causes  yet  more  occult — there  can  be  no  question  about 
the  fact  that  such  causes  are  at  work.  The  general  fact  is,  that 
whei\   the  other  phj'^sical  conditions  ae  the  same,  tribes  living 


432  THE   ETHNOLOGICAL   OBJECTION. 

nearest  the  equator  and  level  of  the  sea  are  marked  with  the  dark- 
est skin,  and  the  crispest  hair.  Thus,  we  make  a  gradual  ascent 
from  the  jetty  negro  of  the  line  to  the  olive-colored  Arab,  the  brown 
Moor,  the  swarthy  Italian,  the  dusky  Spaniard,  the  dark-skinned 
Frenchman,  the  ruddy  Englishman,  and  the  pallid  Scandinavian. 
When  we  reach  the  Arctic  regions  we  find  a  dark  tint  reappear- 
ing, owing  probably  to  the  intensity  of  the  summer's  sun,  the  ex- 
posure of  the  natives,  and  the  blackening  effect  of  the  winter's 
smoke  in  their  dim  and  greasy  burrows.  When  the  white  races 
are  transferred  to  a  tropical  climate,  there  is  a  gradual  darkening 
of  the  complexion  and  crisping  of  the  hair.  There  is  not  so  im- 
mediate and  perceptible  a  change  in  the  removal  of  the  dark  races 
to  a  cooler  climate,  because  this  deposition  of  a  coloring  pigment 
in  the  rete  rnucosum  is  a  positive  peculiarity ;  and  the  law  of  vari- 
eties, as  we  have  ascertained  it,  is,  that  these  peculiarities  once 
produced  become  tenacious  and  permanent,  even  though  the  origi- 
nal condition  of  their  production  should  be  changed.  The  white 
races  are  more  immediately  affected  because  their  color  is  a  nega- 
tive peculiarity,  and  hence  more  readily  affected  by  the  action  of 
positive  agencies.  Dough  may  readily  be  changed  into  bread  by 
subjecting  it  to  heat,  but  bread  cannot  so  readily  be  changed  into 
dough  by  reversing  the  process — yet  no  man  woukl  from  this  fact 
affirm  that  a  lump  of  dough  and  a  loaf  of  bread  may  not  have  had 
the  same  origin.  But  even  on  these  races  a  bleaching  effect  is 
seen  after  the  lapse  of  a  considerable  time.  The  negroes  of  this 
country,  where  the  race  has  been  unmixed,  are  undoubtedly 
lighter  in  color  than  their  kinsmen  in  Africa.  And  the  Gipsies, 
in  spite  of  their  exposure  and  nomade  habits,  have  gradually- 
assumed  a  lighter  tint  in  the  cooler  parts  of  Europe.  So  in  the 
opposite  direction  Bishop  Heber  declares  that  three  centuries  of 
residence  in  India  have  made  the  Portuguese  nearly  as  black  as 
the  Caffres. 

These  agencies  we  find  acting  independently  of  any  relations 
of  race.  Races  that  are  known  historically  to  have  had  the  same 
origin,  by  exposure  to  these  influences  have  assumed  every  shade 
of  color,  and  the  other  peculiarities  that  are  supposed  to  indicate 
a  distinct  origin  in  the  different  varieties.  The  children  of  Abra- 
ham are  found  of  every  hue,  from  the  ruddy  tints  of  the  Polish 
and  German,  through  the  dusky  hue  of  the  Moorish  and  Syrian, 
to  the  jetty  melanism  of  the  black  Jews  of  India.  The  American 
nations  vary — from  the  fair  tribes  of  the  upper  Orinoco,  mentioned 


THE    ETHNOLOGICAL   OBJECTION.  433 

by  Humboldt,  (o  the  chocolate-colored  Chanuas,  and  the  black 
races  of  California,  mentioned  by  Dr.  Morton.  The  great  Arian 
race  includes  the  Affghan,  Kurd,  x\rnienian,  and  Indo-European 
of  the  fairest  complexion,  and  the  Hindoo,  whose  skin  rivals  in 
jettiness  that  of  the  negro.  And  the  Hindoos  themselves  present 
every  variety  of  complexion — from  the  fair-skinned  Rajpoot,  whose 
cheek  is  fanned  by  tlie  cool  breezes  of  the  Himmalayas,  to  the 
swart  coolies,  and  the  coal-black  fishermen,  who  swarm  on  the 
burning  banks  of  the  Hoogly.  The  Chinese  Mongolians — com- 
nared  among  themselves,  and  also  viith  the  same  race  in  adjacent 
countries — present  the  same  results.  The  African  races  display 
the  same  varieties — from  the  red  Fulahs  and  the  yellow  Bush- 
men, to  the  genuine  negro  of  Guinea,  and  the  broad-faced  Hot- 
tentot of  the  southern  plains.  Many  of  the  Caffres  are  stated  by 
Professor  Lichtenstein  to  be  as  light-colored  as  the  Portuguese. 
The  Gallas,  a  large  and  powerful  race  that  inhabit  northeastern 
Africa,  and  the  Haiiran  people  of  Central  Soudan,  have  physical 
features  resembling  those  of  the  negroes,  whilst  their  language 
and  history  indicate  a  Shemitish  origin.  A  tribe  also  of  the  Ber- 
ber Tuaryk — that  have  long  been  isolated  in  the  oasis  Wadreag, 
an  island  of  green,  in  the  great  African  desert — have  not  only 
assumed  the  black  hue  which  wc  find  in  many  Arabs,  but  even 
the  features  and  hair  of  the  negro  race.  This  has  resulted,  as 
the  history  of  the  tribe  proves,  not  from  any  intermixture  of  races, 
— a  result  against  which  their  haughty  pride  of  blood  were  a  suf- 
ficient guarantee, — but  from  the  physical  causes  that  glow  and 
sweep  over  those  oceans  of  burning  sand.  A  similar  fact  is  men- 
tioned by  Mr.  Buckingham  in  regard  to  an  Arab  family  of  the 
Haiiran,  all  of  whom,  except  the  father,  had  negro  features  and 
hair,  although  it  was  matter  of  proof  that  no  negro  blood  had 
ever  mingled  with  that  of  the  family.  Mr.  B,  referred  it  to  that 
tropical  sultriness  that  broods  over  the  valley  of  the  Jordan,  giving 
the  tribes  of  that  region  flatter  features,  darker  skins,  and  coarser 
hair,  than  others  of  the  same  family. 

If  we  are  asked  what  it  is  in  the  climate  that  produces  these 
peculiarities,  we  cannot  tell,  any  more  than  we  can  tell  what  it  is? 
in  the  climate  of  Africa  that  has  made  the  hog  black,  stripped  the 
sheep  of  its  wool  and  clothed  it  with  black  hair,  caused  the  hog 
and  dog  to  lose  their  hair  and  have  nothing  but  a  black,  oily  skin, 
and  made  the  feathers  and  bones  of  a  variety  of  the  gallinaceous 
fowl  to  become  black,  whilst  its  skin  and  wattles  are  purple.     We 


4^4  THE   ETHNOLOGICAL   OBJECTION. 

know  too  little  of  the  mysterious  chemistry  of  the  great  laboratory 
of  nature  to  say  how  these  changes  are  wrought ;  but  the  facts — 
that  they  are  going  on  in  the  lower  tribes  before  our  eyes,  and 
that  they  have  occurred  and  are  now  occurring  in  tribes  that  are 
known  to  have  had  a  foreign  origin — prove  that  the  existence  of 
.  such  diversities,  where  we  are  ignorant  of  their  rise,  cannot  prove 
a  diversity  of  origin  in  the  races  where  they  appear. 

But  aside  from  these  general  causes,  which  act  uniformly  and 
universally,  there  are  particular  agencies  at  work,  whose  action 
produces  varieties  of  the  most  permanent  kind.  Prichard  suggests 
that  the  races  of  men  as  to  their  physical  characteristics,  fall  into 
three  general  types,  found  respectively  in  the  savage  and  hunting 
tribes,  the  nomadic  and  pastoral  races,  and  the  nations  that  are 
subjected  to  the  influences  of  civilization.  The  first  have  a  form 
of  skull  called  prognathous,  indicated  by  a  forward  prolongation 
of  the  jaws,  and  otiier  features;  the  second,  a  pyramidal  form  of 
skull  with  a  broad  face  ;  and  the  third,  an  oval  or  elliptical  skull. 
When  a  race  passes  from  the  one  mode  of  life  to  the  other,  there 
is  a  corresponding  change  in  its  physical  features.  Thus  the 
Turks,  since  their  encampment  on  the  Bosphorus,  have  exchanged 
the  Tartar  peculiarities  for  those  of  the  Europeans  ;  and  the  ne- 
groes, during  their  residence  in  this  country,  have  undergone  a 
decided  change  of  skull  and  physical  conformation. 

Other  races  are  arising  from  intermixtures  of  existing  ones. 
The  Griquas  in  southern  Africa  have  arisen  from  a  union  of  the 
'Dutch  boors  of  the  'Gape  with  the  aboriginal  Hottentots,  and  are 
now  a  clearly-marked  and  permanent  variety.  The  Cafusos  in 
Brazil  have  sprung  from  a  mixture  of  the  native  Indian  race  with 
the  negroes.  These  varieties,  though  of  such  recent  origin,  have 
all  the  tenacity  of  other  and  older  races.  Even  accidental  features 
and  malformations  may  be  long  transmitted  in  particular  cases. 
A  peculiar  nose,  mouth,  or  chin,  will  often  pass  through  several 
generations  of  a  family.  A  striking  illustration  of  this  is  presented 
iii  the  celebrated  porcupine  family  of  England,  the  members  of 
which,  for  several  generations,  had  their  bodies  covered  with  bony 
excrescences,  like  the  quills  of  a  porcupine,  vt'hich  were  yearly 
shed,  and  yearly  renewed.  Although  they  intermarried  with 
those  who  had  no  such  peculiarity,  yet  so  tenacious  is  nature  of  a 
property  which  has  once  appeared,  that  this  singular  kind  of  cuti- 
cle did  not  disappear  for  several  generations.  Mr.  Poinsett  also 
'iestifies  to  the  existence  of  a  spotted  race  of  men  in  Mexico,  a 


THE   ETHNOLOGICAL   OBJECTION.  4^ 

whole  regiment  of  whom  he  saw,  that  is  known  to  have  arisen 
from  a  mixture  of  Spanish  and  Indian  blood. 

Albinism  is  a  further  illustration  of  this  law.  It  occurs  in  man, 
and  the  lower  animals,  without  any  known  cause,  and  in  the 
healthiest  individuals.  Its  phenomena  in  the  lower  animals  prove 
that  it  is  not  to  be  regarded  as  among  the  morbid  manifestations 
of  the  physical  system,  but  a  mere  accidental  variety.  An  Albino 
rabbit,  commonly  called  the  English  rabbit,  has  spread  all  over 
this  country,  without  any  variation  or  tendency  to  disease.  White 
mice,  rats,  racoons,  and  ferrets,  are  also  in  existence.  In  the 
human  races,  negro  as  well  as  others,  Albinoes  appear  who  are 
prolific  and  healthy  to  an  extent  which  proves,  that  if  they  were 
isolated  and  mated  together,  there  would  be  an  Albino  race  of 
men,  as  we  have  of  rabbits  and  other  animals.  Had  any  of  these 
accidental  peculiarities  been  isolated,  we  would  have  had  races  of 
men  differing  from  the  rest  more  widely  than  any  we  now  see, 
which  would  yet  not  have  warranted  an  inference  that  they  had 
an  independent  creation.  If  then  these  greater  differences  would 
not  have  warranted  the  inference  that  the  diverse  races  were  of 
diverse  origins,  it  is  hard  to  see  how  smaller  differences  can  de- 
mand a  conclusion  which  would  not  have  been  warranted  by  the 
greater. 

But  when  we  examine  these  diversities  more  closely,  we  find 
the  argument  drawn  from  them  against  the  unity  of  the  race  to  be 
hopelessly  encumbered.  If  they  prove  anything  in  regard  to  the 
origin  of  the  races,  they  prove  too  much,  for  they  would  prove  fifty 
races  as  readily  as  five.  There  is  no  one  feature  that  can  be  fixed 
upon  as  a  test  of  species.  Color,  hair,  form  of  skull,  etc.,  all  exist 
in  their  widest  variety  among  those  who  are  known  to  belong  to 
the  same  race,  and  run  into  each  other  by  shades  so  gradual  that 
it  is  impossible  to  draw  any  clear  line  of  demarcation.  Hence 
scarcely  any  two  great  writers  on  this  subject  have  been  able  to 
agree  as  to  the  number  of  races — some  making  but  three  ;  some 
five ;  whilst  some  make  twelve  or  fifteen.  No  dividing  line  can 
be  drawn.  But  if  such  a  line  could  be  drawn  clearly,  it  would 
carry  confusion,  as  to  the  doctrine  of  species,  into  every  depart- 
ment of  natural  history.  There  are  as  wide  and  permanent  va- 
rieties of  cows,  hogs,  dogs,  etc.,  known  to  have  sprung  from  the  same 
origin,  as  we  find  in  the  human  races ;  and  if,  for  these  reasons, 
we  insist  on  different  species  of  men,  we  must,  also,  on  different 
species  of  these  animals.     This,  however,  would  bring  utter  and 


436  THE   ETHNOLOGICAL   OBJECTION. 

hopeless  confusion  into  every  department  of  natural  history,  and 
disregard  those  clear  and  impassable  marks,  which  nature  has 
placed,  to  distinguish  one  species  from  another.  As  a  question 
then  of  mere  natural  history,  the  unity  of  the  human  race  is  clearly 
the  doctrine  of  science.  Unity  of  species  infers  unity  of  origin, 
by  consent  of  nearly  all  great  naturalists.  Unity  of  species  is  in- 
dicated by  the  power  of  mutual  and  permanent  reproduction,  and 
is  perfectly  consistent  with  wide  and  tenacious  varieties.  As  there- 
fore the  human  races  have  this  power  of  mutual  and  permanent 
reproduction,  and  as  their  varieties  are  neither  as  many  nor  as  great 
as  we  find  in  the  lower  tribes  of  the  same  species,  nor  as  we  see 
accidentally  appearing  as  sporadic  cases  in  different  races  of  men, 
we  are  at  liberty  to  infer  their  original  unity  of  species,  and  hence 
their  original  unity  of  origin. 

The  only  other  objections  presenting  any  difficultj^  are  those 
drawn  from  the  distribution  of  the  races,  and  their  isolation  in 
countries  and  islands  that  are  separated  by  wide  and  formidable 
barriers.  Our  limits  will  not  allow  us  to  go  at  length  into  this 
branch  of  the  subject ;  nor  is  it  necessary,  for,  after  all,  it  is  only 
an  argumentum  ad  ignorantiam.  That  we  are  unable  to  state 
with  historical  precision  how  America  and  the  Polynesian  Islands 
were  peopled,  is  the  natural  result  of  the  remoteness  of  the  period 
when  the  migration  occurred ;  and  what  is  knovv'n  cannot  be  set 
aside  by  unanswered  queries  about  what  is  unknown.  The  ut- 
most that  can  be  demanded  of  us  is,  to  suggest  a  possible  mode  by 
which  these  migrations  might  have  occurred  ;  and  if  there  be  any 
such  possibility,  the  objection  falls,  for  it  assumes  an  impossibility 
as  the  only  ground  on  which  it  can  rest. 

Dr.  Pickering  affirms  that  it  appears  "  on  zoological  grounds  that 
the  human  family  is  foreign  to  the  American  Continent."  How 
then  they  came  here  is  not  a  question  we  are  bound  to  answer 
more  than  those  with  whom  we  argue. 

That  there  may  have  been  a  connection  by  land  across  Bher- 
ing's  Straits  in  former  times,  is  a  fact  that  the  geological  indica- 
tions of  the  region,  and  changes  now  going  on,  render,  at  least, 
not  at  all  impossible.  But  even  if  this  were  not  the  case,  the  drift- 
ing of  Japanese  and  Polynesian  canoes,  with  their  bewildered 
mariners,  to  lands  many  hundred  miles — in  one  instance  fifteen 
hundred  from  their  starting-place,  suggests  the  mode  in  which  the 
Pacific  islands,  and  then  the  American  continent,  may  have  been 
peopled.     And  when  to  this  we  add,  that  the  traces  of  a  higher 


THE   ETHNOLOGICAL   OBJECTION.  4Sf 

Civilization  in  ancient  times,  which  are  found  in  Central  America, 
indicate  the  probability  of  superior  skill  and  facilities  in  naviga- 
tion among  these  early  nations,  the  likelihood  of  such  a  migration, 
either  by  accident  or  design,  becomes  yet  more  probable.  That 
there  were  nomade  rovers  of  the  sea — who  passed  from  island  to 
island,  with  their  wives  and  domestic  animals,  just  as  the  wan- 
dering races  of  the  desert  pass  from  oasis  to  oasis,  and  from 
pasturage  to  pasturage,  on  land- — is  a  fact  by  no  means  improbable. 
And  that  some  of  these  Bedouins  of  the  ocean  may  have  been 
driven  to  distant  shores  by  the  great  westwardly  currents  of  the 
Pacific,  is  a  supposition  which  the  facts  already  alluded  to  render 
highly  probable.  If  it  be  said  that  all  this  is  only  an  appeal  to 
our  ignorance,  we  answer,  that  so  is  the  objection  to  which  we 
reply,  and  the  one  appeal  is  surely  as  fair  as  the  other.  The  ob- 
jection demands  an  impossibility  which  these  suppositions  show 
does  not  exist  in  the  case,  and  hence  as  an  argument  against  our 
position  it  must  fall. 

These  conjectures  are  greatly  strengthened  by  the  fact,  that  all 
tradition  and  history  point  to  Central  Asia  as  the  cradle  of  the 
human  race.  There  we  find  what  is  confessedly  the  most  perfect 
type  of  physical  feature  and  development,  whether  we  term  it  the 
Caucasian,  the  Circassian,  or  the  Iranian  race ;  and  as  we  trace 
the  natural  channels  of  population,  we  find,  except  where  civili- 
zation has  interposed,  a  steady  deterioration  until  we  find  the 
physiological  extremes  almost  to  coincide  with  the  geographical, 
in  the  Negro  of  Africa,  the  Australian  of  Polynesia,  and  the  Es- 
quimaux of  America.  Another  fact  that  bears  irresistibly  in  the 
same  direction  is,  that  this  same  spot  is  the  native  country  of 
nearly  all  the  animals,  grains,  vegetables,  and  fruits,  that  have  ac- 
companied man  in  all  his  wanderings.  It  is  the  native  country  of 
rice,  wheat,  maize,  the  vine,  and  nearly  all  of  the  products  of  the 
earth  that  man  has  used  for  his  food.  There  also  we  find  in  their 
wild  state,  the  ass,  goat,  sheep,  cow,  horse,  dog,  hog,  cat,  camel,  etc., 
the  companions  and  servants  of  man  the  earth  over.  And  as  we 
trace  these  animals  in  their  dispersions,  we  find  them  assuming 
the  same  variations  of  form  and  appearance  that  we  find  in  the 
human  races,  nearly  in  exact  proportion  to  the  nearness  of  their 
association  and  companionship  with  man.  There  are  the  same 
Asiatic  pointings  in  the  afiinities  and  resemblances  of  language 
The  science  of  comparative  glottology  is  yet  in  its  infancy,  but 
sufficient  advance  has  been  made  to  show  the  most  remarkable 


438  THE   ETHNOLOGICAL   OBJECTION. 

relations  ;  and  as  the  evidence  is  positive,  it  is  reliable  as  far  as 
it  goes,  to  render  it  probable  that  all  existing  languages  have  had, 
to  some  extent,  a  common  origin.  Inasmuch,  then,  as  the  disper- 
sion of  the  families  of  the  earth  from  a  single  spot,  is  neither  im- 
possible nor  improbable ;  as  tradition  points  to  a  locality  in  Asia 
as  that  spot ;  as  we  find  in  that  locality  what  seem  to  be  the 
primitive  types  of  man,  and  the  animals  and  vegetables  he  has 
domesticated, — we  submit  that  there  is  nothing  in  the  present  dis- 
tribution or  isolation  of  the  races,  to  set  aside  the  evidence  of  nat- 
ural history  already  given,  that  these  races  belong  to  the  same 
species  and  have  had  the  same  origin. 

But  the  most  signal  indication  that  could  perhaps  be  given  of 
the  strength  of  the  argument  we  have  thus  been  developing,  is,  the 
recent  position  of  Professor  Agassiz,  as  detailed  in  two  essays  in 
the  Christian  Examiner.  Perceiving  the  unanswerable  mass  of 
evidence  in  favor  of  the  specific  identity  of  the  races  of  men,  he 
takes  a  new  position,  and  whilst  admitting  an  unity  of  species,  he 
asserts  a  diversity  of  origin.  He  endeavors  to  establish  in  his  first 
article  the  preliminary  position,  that  there  are  certain  definite  zo- 
ological provinces,  the  fauna  and  flora  in  each  of  which  must  have 
been  created  in  the  province  itself,  and  not  distributed  thither  by 
migration  from  a  central  point.  He  then  maintains  that  each 
province  has  its  own  race  of  men,  which  could  not  have  come  from 
a  single  pair,  but  must  have  been  created  each  in  the  province 
where  we  find  it.  These  positions  he  thinks  fully  consistent  with 
the  Bible,  which  he  afl[irms  only  gives  the  origin  and  history  of  the 
white  race,  and  alludes  to  none  other. 

This  is  a  clear  abandonment  of  the  old  position  on  this  ques- 
tion, and  a  concession  of  the  unanswerable  grounds  on  which  the 
specific  unity  of  the  race  has  been  estabhshed.  The  attack  has 
been  shifted  to  a  point  further  back,  and  one  which  can  only  be 
properly  reached  by  historical  testimony.  But  we  apprehend  that 
this  new  position,  which  is  however  not  original  with,  or  peculiar  to 
Professor  Agassiz,  will  soon  yield  as  completely  to  the  truth  as  the 
old  one,  and  that  this  great  and  solemn  question  will  be  one  of  the 
ruled  cases  in  science. 

His  views  when  analyzed  resolve  themselves  into  the  following 
positions,  namely  :  (1.)  That  animals  are  geographically  distribu- 
ted in  distinct  and  separate  zoological  provinces  ;  (2.)  That  they 
are  so  isolated  in  these  provinces  as  to  make  it  impossible  that  they 
could  have  come  forth   from  a  common  centre ;  (3.)  That  they 


THE   ETHNOLOfilCAL   OBJECTION.  439 

must  therefore  have  been  separately  created  in  these  provinces ; 
(4.)  That  man  is  found  distributed  in  the  same  provinces ;  (5.) 
That  therefore  hke  the  fauna  and  flora  of  these  provinces,  each 
race  must  have  been  created  in  the  locaHty  it  occupies,  and  could 
uot  possibly  have  been  distributed  from  a  common  centre,  or  origi- 
nated from  a  single  pair.  The  weakness  of  his  general  position 
may  be  perceived,  when  it  is  thus  drawn  out  in  logical  method  ;  and 
it  will  be  seen  at  a  glance  that  the  conclusion  rests  on  a  chain  of 
assumptions,  any  one  of  which  being  disproved,  the  chain  is  broken, 
and  the  conclusion  falls  to  the  ground.  Ijet  us  then  test  the 
strength  of  these  successive  links,  and  see  whether  his  theories 
rest  on  facts,  or  his  facts  warrant  his  conclusions. 

It  might  seem  presumptuous  in  us  to  challenge  such  high  au- 
thority as  that  of  Agassiz,  who  is  confessedly  the  Neptune  of 
modern  zoology:  but  we  may  venture  to  suggest  that  the  pre- 
sumption is  in  the  other  direction — that  even  Neptune  himself 
could  not  be  allowed  to  sway  his  trident  over  the  domains  of  other 
authorities ;  and  that  a  man  may  be  a  peerless  ichthyologist  who 
is  neither  a  profound  logician  nor  a  safe  interpreter  ;  and  as  he  has 
discarded  all  authority  in  taking  his  position,  he  will  be  the  last 
to  demand  a  submission  to  his  own  mere  authority,  however  great 
it  may  be.  We  shall  therefore  freely  canvass  his  views,  whilst,  at 
the  same  time,  we  cheerfully  recognize  his  eminence  as  a  natu- 
ralist, and  the  manly  reverence  with  which  he  speaks  of  the  Bible 
and  what  he  deems  to  be  its  teachings. 

His  preliminary  position  is,  that  animals  are  geographically 
distributed  in  separate  provinces,  in  which  the  same  species  ap- 
pears in  different  provinces  and  in  different  parts  of  the  same 
province,  at  intervals  that  preclude  the  hypothesis  of  a  common 
origin,  and  demand  that  of  a  separate  creation.  There  is  noth- 
ing in  this  position  that  necessarily  infringes  on  any  Bible  truth 
or  assertion,  and  our  sole  objection  to  it  is,  that  there  is  no  sufii- 
cient  difficulty  that  demands  it  as  a  hypothesis,  and  no  sufficient 
evidence  that  sustains  it  as  a  fact.  The  simple  question  to  which 
it  is  at  last  resolved,  is,  whether  the  geographical  distribution  of 
animals  may  be  accounted  for  by  natural  agencies  dispersing 
them  from  a  common  centre,  or  whether  a  miracle  must  be  as- 
sumed to  account  for  it ;  and  if  so,  whether  the  only  miracle  that 
meets  the  case,  is  that  of  a  separate  creation  of  the  inhabitants 
of  each  separate  province. 

We  are  not  prepared  to  deny  that  there  are  great  zoological 


440  THE   ETHNOLOGICAL  OBJECTION. 

centres,  each  having  its  surrounding  province  whose  fauna  and 
flora  are  peculiar,  but  the  sense  in  which  this  is  true  does  not 
avail  the  new  theory,  and  the  sense  in  which  it  asserts  these  prov- 
inces is  one  in  which  they  do  not  exist.  The  sense  in  v»'hich  this 
is  true,  is,  that  there  are  different  regions  of  the  earth  whose 
species  are  distinct  and  pecuhar,  or  whose  varieties  are  so  marked 
as  to  indicate  the  action  of  local  and  provincial  agencies.  In 
this  sense  however  it  is  of  no  avail  to  support  the  position  that 
unity  of  species  may  consist  with  diversity  of  origin,  for  the 
species  are  diverse,  and  the  varieties  indicative  of  local  action 
alone,  and  not  separate  creation.  The  sense  in  which  the  theory 
asserts  such  provinces,  is  that  in  which  the  species  are  the  same ; 
but  so  far  as  they  are  the  same,  the  provinces  are  the  same,  and 
not  different.  And  if  the  few  facts  on  which  the  theory  rests 
were  multiplied  to  such  an  extent  as  to  make  all  the  species  of 
all  the  provinces  the  same,  it  is  plain  that  there  would  be  no  dis- 
tinct provinces  at  all,  and  the  theory  must  perish  by  the  very 
completeness  of  its  success.  Its  entire  force  then  depends  on  the 
confounding  of  these  two  facts,  which  are  totally  distinct.  Had 
exactly  the  same  species  been  found  in  all  the  provinces  there 
would  have  been  no  provinces,  except  in  regard  to  the  topograph- 
ical lines  of  separation  ;  and  had  the  species  of  all  the  provinces 
been  different,  it  would  not  have  availed  in  this  argument,  where 
the  species  of  the  races  is  conceded  to  be  the  same.  Let  us  then 
examine  whether  there  are  these  broad  and  clear  lines  of  topo- 
graphical separation.  It  is  obvious  that  no  such  lines  exist,  from 
the  fact  that  no  two  naturalists  have  been  able  to  agree  in  their 
identification.  The  provinces  overlap  and  interpenetrate  one 
another  to  such  an  extent  as  to  show  that  the  cause  is  to  be 
sought,  not  in  the  creation  of  separate  races,  but  in  the  action  of 
local  and  physical  causes  on  races  already  created. 

The  same  species  we  grant  occurs  in  very  different  localities ; 
but  in  almost  every  case,  in  such  localities  alone  as  could  be 
reached  by  ordinary  migration.  Thus  we  know  that  the  domestic 
animals  have  been  spread.  When  America  was  discovered  none 
of  them  were  found  here  but  the  dog,  whose  use  for  draught  in 
the  polar  regions  suggests  the  reason  and  mode  of  his  introduc- 
tion in  that  direction.  The  lion,  tiger,  elephant,  etc.,  are  found 
in  Asia  and  Africa,  but  not  in  America,  Australia  or  Polynesia,  in 
the  same  climates,  because  they  are  separated  from  these  regions 
by  barriers  impassable  to  them,  and  man  has  no  motive  to  in- 


THE  ETHNOLOGICAL   OBJECTION.  4M 

troduce  them  by  artificial  means.  The  vermin  that  accompany 
man,  as  his  scavengers— such  as  rats,  mice,  cockroaches,  flies, 
fleas,  etc. — are  never  found  in  newly-discovered  islands  until  after 
they  have  been  visited  by  ships ;  showing  the  mode  of  their  in- 
troduction. Certain  provinces  are  found  equally  or  more  favor- 
able to  certain  animals  than  those  in  which  man  first  discovered 
them :  if  then  each  species  was  created  in  the  locality  it  occupies, 
why  were  not  these  localities  peopled  with  them  ?  Why  was  not 
the  camel  created  in  Northern  Africa,  the  reindeer  in  Iceland,  the 
horse  in  Flanders,  and  the  hog  in  Berkshire,  where  they  are 
found  so  admirably  to  thrive  ;  and  where  we  know  that  they  have 
been  artificially  introduced?  These  questions  are  unanswerable 
on  this  theory. 

But  facts  show  that  animals  are  distributed  precisely  in  the 
way  which  is  denied  by  this  theory.  Dr.  Bachman  gives  some 
curious  and  forcible  illustrations  of  this  point.  The  opossum  oc- 
curs in  the  warmer  parts  of  North  America,  west  of  the  Hudson, 
but  in  no  case  east  of  it,  for  it  is  unable  to  swim,  and  dreads  the 
cold  too  much  to  pass  round  the  head-waters  of  this  stream,  or 
cross  it  on  the  ice.  The  gofer  is  found  on  the  southern  bank  of 
the  Savannah,  but  not  on  the  northern,  with  precisely  the  same 
soil  and  food,  because  it  cannot  swim.  The  soft-shelled  turtle  is 
found  in  all  the  streams  and  lakes  connected  with  the  Mississippi, 
even  to  the  Mohawk  and  Hudson,  but  in  none  south  of  these 
until  we  reach  the  Savannah,  because  it  travels  only  by  water, 
and  the  streams  on  that  part  of  the  Atlanti'c  slope  do  not  connect 
with  the  northern  or  western  waters.  No  eels  were  found  in  Lake 
Erie  until  the  opening  of  the  Erie  canal,  which  gave  them  an 
inlet ;  they  are  now  plenty.  The  red  fox,  which  is  an  arctic 
animal,  was  only  found  as  low  as  Pennsylvania  forty  years  ago, 
then  it  appeared  in  Virginia,  then  in  the  Carolinas,  and  now  it  is 
more  common  than  the  gray  fox.  The  latter,  which  is  a  southern 
animal,  has,  in  like  manner,  migrated  north  until  it  has  reached 
Canada.  These  facts  show  conclusively  that  such  migrations  are 
going  on,  and  suggest  the  most  easy  and  natural  means  to  ac- 
count for  the  geographical  distribution  of  animals.  The  same 
process  is  going  on  in  regard  to  vegetables  and  plants,  for  whose 
distribution,  as  they  have  not  the  power  of  voluntary  locomotion, 
nature  has  furnished  the  most  elaborate  provision.  Some  seeds 
are  furnished  with  wings  to  be  carried  by  the  wind ;  others  with 
hooks  to  fasten  upon  the  passing  animal  and  thus  be  transported  ; 


442  THE   ETHNOLOGICAL   OBJECTION. 

others  are  carried  by  water  thousands  of  miles,  as  tropical  produc- 
tions have  been  stranded  by  the  Gulf  Stream  on  the  shores  of  Ice- 
land ;  whilst  others  are  carried  in  the  stomachs  of  birds  and 
beasts  many  leagues  from  their  native  locality.  No  sooner  does 
the  coral  reef  become  capable  of  sustaining  vegetable  life  than  it 
is  supplied  by  some  of  these  seed-carriers  of  nature.  Facts  on 
this  point  exist  by  the  hundred.  What  conceivable  need  then 
exists  for  the  hypothesis  of  a  new  creation,  when  we  see  the 
same  species  repeated  in  new  localities? 

Tiie  only  difficulty  that  remains  is,  the  occurrence  of  arctic 
plants  and  animals  in  the  Alpine  regions,  cut  off  from  their 
natural  kindred.  But  it  curiously  happens  that  in  the  same  re- 
view that  contains  the  essay  we  are  answering,  there  is  a  com- 
plete solution  to  this  difficulty,  unconsciously  suggested  by  Pro- 
fessor Agassiz  himself,  when  speaking  on  a  different  subject.  He 
explains  some  of  the  phenomena  of  Lake  Superior  by  reference 
to  the  glacial  theory.  Now  whilst  we  do  not  pronounce  on  this 
theory,  yet  with  its  great  defender,  an  objection  which  may  be 
answered  by  it,  will  surely  not  be  pressed.  If  then  the  bowlders 
and  deeply  worn  furrows  of  the  lake  region  may  be  explained  by 
this  theory,  we  ask,  where  is  the  difficulty  of  giving  the  same  ac- 
count of  the  existence  of  these  Alpine  fauna  and  flora?  As  the 
glacial  sea  receded  to  the  pole,  the  arctic  animals  and  plants  that 
co-existed  with  it,  would  naturally  remain  on  these  Alpine  heights, 
which  were  congenial  to  them,  since  the}^  would  have  no  induce- 
ments to  change  their  locality.  Hence  where  this  recession  of  the 
ice-line  left  them  isolated  on  these  arctic  islands,  they  would  of 
course  remain  and  propagate  just  as  their  kindred  which  receded 
with  the  glaciers  to  the  pole.  Hence,  there  is  nothing  in  this 
requiring  a  new  creation  of  lynxes,  marmots,  and  chamois,  in  the 
regions  where  they  are  now  found. 

Hence  if  we  concede  the  existence  of  clearly-marked  zoological 
provinces,  as  contended  for  by  Professor  Agassiz,  the  facts  that 
they  run  into  one  another  by  insensible  gradations,  that  migra- 
tions are  going  on  from  one  region  to  another,  that  arrangements 
for  this  mode  of  distribution  are  now  in  operation,  suggest  the 
likelihood  that  the  same  arrangements  existed  in  former  times, 
and  actually  effected  the  distribution  which  we  find.  The  very 
same  principle  that  requires  us  to"  suppose  that  the  geological  dis- 
tribution of  rocks  was  made  by  natural  causes  such  as  we  now 
see  in  operation,  demands  that  we  should  hold  the  same  suppo- 


tSe  ethnological  objection.  448 

sition  in  regard  to  the  zoological  distribution  of  animals.  The 
fact  on  which  Prof.  A.  seems  greatly  to  rely  that  the  later  fossils 
of  some  of  these  provinces,  such  as  New  Holland,  have  the 
same  peculiarities  that  we  find  in  existing  species,  really  proves 
nothing,  but  that  the  same  or  similar  causes  were  acting  in  these 
localities  then  that  are  acting  now,  and  determines  nothing  as  to 
the  precise  nature  of  the  causes  themselves,  whether  natural  or 
supernatural,  creative  or  merely  adaptive.  The  fact  that  we  find 
dogs  in  Africa  with  a  naked  skin  does  not  prove  that  dogs  were 
created  there  without  hair,  for  the  same  thing  happens  to  dogs 
that  are  removed  there  with  their  natural  coat.  It  only  proves' 
that  whenever  and  however  these  dogs  came  there,  they  were 
subjected  to  the  same  influences  that  are  now  in  operation.  Thus 
it  is  also  with  the  peculiarities  of  the  later  fossils,  to  which  Prof. 
A.  alludes.  The  same  causes  which  will  explain  the  distribu- 
tion of  existing  tribes,  will  account  for  the  distribution  of  similar 
tribes  at  any  former  geological  epoch.  But  even  were  this  not 
the  fact,  we  cannot  argue  from  the  conditions  of  things  before 
the  creation  of  man  to  that  after  his  creation,  for  with  the  appear- 
ance of  man  began  the  era  of  moral  government  and  general  law, 
and  ceased  the  era  of  creation.  The  earth  being  designed  as  the 
dwelling-place  and  kingdom  of  man,  the  mode  of  creation  at  the 
beginning  of  his  epoch  would  likely  have  reference  to  his  position 
and  wants.  We  may  add  to  this,  that  if  the  recently  announced 
discovery  of  a  fossil  kangaroo  in  New  England  be  authenticated, 
the  whole  force  of  this  argument  is  at  once  destroyed,  and  it  is 
proven  that  the  animals  now  peculiar  to  New  Holland,  were  once 
distributed  more  widely  over  the  earth.  But  even  if  it  were 
demonstrated  that  these  causes,  in  any  conceivable  mode  of  their 
operation,  are  insufficient  to  account  for  the  effects,  it  will  not  fol- 
low that  a  separate  creation  in  each  locality  is  demanded  as  the 
only  alternative.  Some  extraordinary  agency  must  be  supposed  ; 
but  is  this  the  only  one?  If  a  miracle  must  be  assumed,  may  it 
hot  as  readily  have  been  in  the  distribution  of  these  races  to  their 
present  localities,  as  in  their  creation  within  them  ?  Does  not 
universal  observation  show  that  direct  creation  is  usually  the  last 
expedient  resorted  to,  in  the  attainment  of  any -end?  Now  what 
is  there  to  demand  it  as  the  only  alternative  here?  We  submit 
then  that  there  is  nothing  in  the  distribution  of  animals  requiring 
a  miracle  at  all ;  and  that  if  any  such  unusual  interposition  of 
divine  power  was  needed,  it  is  much  more  likely  to  have  been  in 


444  THE   ETHNOLOGICAL   OBJECTION. 

the  distribution  of  races  already  created,  than  in  their  separate 
and  distinct  creation.  But  we  repeat  itj  that  there  is  nothing  in 
this  hypothesis  of  separate  zoological  centres  of  creation  that 
conflicts  with  the  Bible  in  the  slightest,  and  it  might  fully  be  ad- 
mitted without  aflfecting  a  single  utterance  of  revelation.  We 
only  object  to  its  strength  because  of  the  tremendous  conclusion 
we  are  asked  to  hang  upon  it. 

But  suppose  these  three  links  of  the  chain  mended,  the  fourth 
breaks  with  the  weight  that  is  hung  upon  it.  Grant  that  there 
are  distinct  zoological  provinces  ;  that  they  are  so  isolated  from 
each  other  that  their  fauna  and  flora  could  not  have  come  forth 
from  a  common  centre  ;  and  that  a  separate  creation  in  each 
province  is  the  only  mode  of  overcoming  the  diflSculty, — we  find 
that  the  races  of  men  are  not  co-extensive  and  identical  with  these 
alleged  zoological  provinces. 

One  would  think,  from  the  confidence  with  which  the  learned 
Professor  asserts  the  identity  in  the  two  cases,  that  not  only  the 
zoological  provinces  were  clearly  made  out,  but  the  limits  of  the 
races  also  plainly  and  universally  ascertained.  But  there  is  no 
point  in  natural  history  more  undetermined  than  this.  Some 
make  but  three  races,  others  five,  others  eleven,  others  still  more ; 
but  the  most  remarkable  fact  is,  that  Professor  Agassiz  does  not 
positively  determine  this  point  himself.  He  enumerates  about  a 
dozen  zoological  provinces,  but  not  more  than  half  that  number 
of  races.  Why  this  significant  silence?  If  his  theory  is  really 
true,  why  did  he  not  tell  us  what  the  races  are,  that  inhabit  these 
provinces?  We  shall  perhaps  see  the  reason  as  we  examine  the 
relations  of  the  two  distributions.  This  examination  our  limits 
will  only  allow  us  to  make  in  one  or  two  of  these  provinces  which 
he  has  mapped  out. 

His  first  province  is  the  arctic,  with  the  Samoyedes,  the  Lap- 
landers, and  the  Esquimaux.  But  can  any  one  suppose  that  an 
animal  so  helpless  as  man,  so  destitute  of  natural  covering,  pro- 
tection, and  food,  could  originate  in  the  bleak  and  inhospitable 
regions  of  the  pole,  where  he  could  obtain  neither  clothing,  fire, 
nor  food  1  If  we  suppose  him  to  have  originated  in  a  warmer  re- 
gion, and  migrated  thither,  with  his  acquired  knowledge  and 
habits,  these  difl^iculties  vanish  ;  but  if  we  suppose  him  created,  a 
naked,  shivering  Troglodyte,  amidst  the  eternal  snows,  we  must 
pile  miracle  on  miracle  to  account  for  his  continued  existence. 
But  even    f   this  difficulty  were   overcome,  the    Esquimaux  of 


THE   ETHNOLOGICAL   OBJECTION.  445 

America  are  as  widely  separate  from  the  arctic  races  of  Asia,  in 
distance,  difficulty  of  communication,  and  physical  features,  as 
the  latter  are  from  the  adjacent  tribes  of  the  Mongolians,  or  the 
former  from  the  northern  tribes  of  Indians.  Why  not  maice  an 
Asian  arctic,  and  an  American  arctic,  on  the  same  grounds  that  a 
distinction  is  drawn  between  the  southern  arctic  and  the  northern 
Mongolian?  There  is  absolutely  no  ground  in  the  one  case  that 
does  not  exist  as  broadly  in  the  other.  The  Malay  race  he  as- 
signs to  a  natural  zoological  province  ;  but  what  it  is,  he  does  not 
inform  us.  It  cannot  be  limited  to  his  tropical  Asiatic  province, 
for  it  extends  through  Polynesia  to  Western  America,  by  the  testi- 
mony of  the  most  accurate  observers,  even  those  who  deny  the 
original  unity  of  the  races.  The  same  difficulty  exists  in  the 
provinces  of  New  Holland  and  Africa.  The  Tasmanian  and  Al- 
forian  races  of  the  New  Hdland  province  differ  far  more  widely 
than  the  Malay  and  the  Mongolian  :  and  we  have  shown  that 
Africa  presents  the  widest  extremes  of  variety,  with  every  inter- 
mediate shade,  from  the  fair  races  of  Abyssinia  to  the  genuine 
Dahomey  negro.  But  when  we  come  to  the  American  provinces, 
the  theory  breaks  utterly  and  hopelessly  down.  He  makes  four 
such  provinces ;  one  east,  and  one  west  of  the  Rocky  Mountains; 
one  in  tropical  America,  and  one  in  temperate  South  America. 
But  where  are  the  four  races  corresponding  to  them?  Do  not  all 
recognize  the  same  physical  type  in  all  our  aboriginal  tribes?  Has 
even  Professor  Agassiz  dissented  from  this  ?  How  then  can  the 
facts  be  cut  up  to  fit  the  theory?  But  if  we  had  the  four  races 
that  have  been  created  on  this  continent,  what  will  we  do  with 
the  Patagonians?  The  same  questions  might  be  asked  in  regard 
to  the  Papuan,  Feejee,  and  other  races,  which  though  clearly  and 
strongly  marked  cannot  be  referred  to  any  distinct  or  definite 
zoological  provinces. 

It  is  abundantly  evident  from  this  brief  enumeration  of  facts 
that  there  is  no  such  coincidence  in  the  geographical  distribution 
of  the  races  and  that  of  the  plants  and  animals,  such  as  is  asserted 
by  this  theory.  But  suppose  all  these  difficulties  removed,  and 
yet  the  last  step  could  not  legitimately  be  taken.  If  the  races  and 
zoological  provinces  were  identical,  that  fact  clearly  could  not 
prove  that  each  race  was  created  in  its  province.  All  that  it  could 
prove  would  be,  that  the  human  races,  and  the  fauna  and  flora 
of  each  province,  were  subjected  to  the  same  or  similar  influences, 
giving  them  this  identity  of  hmitation.     What  these  influences 


446  THE   ETKNOLOGICAL   OBJECTION. 

were,  would  not  be  determined  by  this  coincidence  of  boundary, 
and  would  therefore  remain  matter  for  further  investigation. 
Whether  they  were  natural  or  supernatural  would  not  be  deter- 
mined by  such  identity  of  circumscription.  And  if  we  must  as 
sume  a  supernatural  agency,  it  by  no  means  follows,  that  creation 
is  the  only  one.  The  divine  power  might  as  readily  have  been 
exerted  in  causing  these  peculiarities,  or  in  distributing  these 
races,  as  in  their  direct  creation  ;  and  if  we  must  assert  its  inter- 
position to  account  for  the  varieties,  we  have  at  least  the  same 
right  to  affirm  the  smaller  and  more  ordinary  exercise  of  it,  that 
he  has  to  affirm  the  greater  and  more  extraordinary. 

The  fact  on  which  he  lays  so  much  stress,  that  climatic  con- 
ditions are  not  exactly  coincident  with  the  various  races,  will 
prove  that  climatic  conditions  are  not  the  only  agencies  at  work 
in  producing  these  varieties ;  and  nothing  more.  What  these 
other  agencies  are,  and  whether  distinct  creation  is  the  only  con- 
ceivable one,  is  wholly  undetermined  by  this  fact.  His  remark, 
that  the  adaptations  of  man  to  his  various  localities  must  have 
been  intentional,  is  true ;  but  it  does  not  follow  from  this  that 
separate  creation  of  each  race  was  the  only  way  in  which  this  in- 
tention could  be  carried  into  effect.  We  grant  that  these  adapta- 
tions were  intentional,  and  simply  affirm  that  they  were  brought 
about  by  an  original  susceptibility  to  such  adaptations  impressed 
by  God  on  man's  physical  constitution  ;  and  that  the  same  reasons 
for  its  existence  at  first  require  its  existence  now,  and  undoubted 
facts  prove  that  it  actually  does  exist.  Designing  man  to  be  a 
cosmopolite,  and  to  subdue  the  earth,  he  impressed  him  with  this 
susceptibility,  and  the  result  is,  the  varieties  we  find  in  the  races 
of  the  world.  So  far  then  is  this  designed  adaptation  of  man  to 
the  various  localities  in  which  he  is  found,  from  proving  that  the 
varieties  were  separately  created,  it  is  the  very  fact  that  makes 
this  supposition  unnecessary. 

We  thus  find  this  chain  of  assumptions  to  break  at  every  link. 
Whilst  there  are  zoological  provinces,  they  are  not  such  as  to  for- 
bid their  occupance  by  natural  and  existing  causes ;  or  if  super- 
natural agency  were  required  it  is  not  necessitated  to  be  in  the 
form  of  creation  ;  and  if  these  points  were  reached,  they  would 
not  avail  us,  for  the  races  of  men  are  not  identical  with  these 
provinces ;  and  if  they  were,  this  identity  would  be  explicable  by 
that  adaptive  susceptibility  of  the  human  constitution  to  conform 
itself  to  the  varying  conditions  in  which  it  is  placed,  with  which 


THE    ETHNOLOGICAL   OBJECTION.  447 

man  as  the  destined  conqueror  of  the  earth  lias  been  furnished  ; 
and  if  some  direct  and  unusual  interposition  of  divine  power  must 
be  supposed,  it  was  much  more  likely  to  be  in  producing  these 
varieties  from  a  race  already  existing  than  in  calling  new  ones 
into  existence.  Hence  in  every  part  of  this  new  theory  we  find  it 
more  completely  untenable  than  the  old  one. 

There  are  other  proofs  of  the  original  unity  of  the  human  race, 
the  full  presentation  of  which  would  exceed  our  limits,  and  hence 
we  can  only  glance  at  them  in  concluding.  One  of  these  is  drawn 
from  the  relations  that  modern  philology  has  detected  among  the 
languages  of  the  earth.  Dr.  Young  has  applied  the  mathematical 
calculus  of  probabilities  to  this  subject,  and  declares  the  result  to 
be,  that  if  eight  words  in  any  two  languages  are  found  to  coincide 
in  sound  and  significance,  the  probabilities  are  one  hundred  thou- 
sand to  one,  that  they  were  drawn  from  the  same  parent  language ; 
and  that  if  the  coincidences  are  found  in  more  than  eight  cases  it 
rises  to  little  less  than  an  absolute  certainty.  Whether  this  appli- 
cation of  the  doctrine  of  probabilities  be  perfectly  satisfactory  or 
not  to  every  mind,  it  at  least  shows  that  a  small  number  of 
coincident  words  compared  with  the  entire  vocabulary  will  be 
sufficient  to  establish  an  original  connection  betw^een  different 
languages.  Now  the  researches  of  the  most  eminent  scholars, 
after  much  perplexity  and  overthrow  of  former  opinions,  have  at 
last  reduced  the  more  than  two  thousand  languages  of  the  earth 
to  a  few  families,  and  established  between  these  families  the  most 
undoubted  affiliation.  This  affiliation  is  supported  not  by  a  few 
words  whose  similarity  could  be  accounted  for  by  the  imitation  of 
natural  sounds,  or  the  necessary  use  of  the  same  organs  of  articu- 
lation, but  by  adjectives,  nouns,  pronouns,  numerals,  and  verbs, 
whose  sounds  are  perfectly  arbitrary,  and  have  no  conceivable  re- 
semblance to  the  things  they  are  designed  to  represent.  This  re- 
semblance is  found  not  only  in  the  sounds  of  words,  but  also  in 
their  grammatical  forms.  Declensions  and  cases  of  nouns,  conju- 
gations of  verbs  with  their  apparatus  of  voices,  augments  and  re- 
duplications, are  found,  like  perfect  skeletons  of  a  former  organ- 
ism, embedded  in  the  languages  of  the  most  distant  countries. 
Sometimes,  as  has  been  shown  recently  in  regard  to  our  American 
Indian  languages,  the  most  minute  resemblances  may  exist  in 
grammatical  forms  between  many  dialects,  that  have  scarcely  a 
Word  in  common.  The  bony  skeleton  remains,  whilst  the  more 
perishable  fleshly  integuments    of  mere  sounds    have   perished. 


448  THE   ET^^'OLOGICAL   OBJECTION. 

From  these  facts  such  scholars  as  A.  von  Humboldt,  Meiian,  Klap- 
roth,  F.  Schlegel,  Herder,  and  others,  have  inferred  that  all  exist- 
ing languages  are  derivations  from  one  original  tongue  now  lost. 
The  American  languages  were  for  some  time  considered  excep- 
tions to  this  broad  generalization,  but  the  researches  of  Mr.  Gal- 
latin, and  the  more  recent  investigations  of  Mr.  Schoolcraft,'  have 
shown  that  they  in  like  manner  contain  these  conglomerate  re- 
mains of  ancient  speech  that  indicate  their  connection  with  the 
same  original  tongue.  Thus  that  tendency  to  the  ascertainment 
of  a  unity  in  diversit}^,  which  is  characteristic  of  all  other  science, 
is  equally  evinced  in  the  young  and  interesting  science  of  com- 
parative philology. 

But  a  second  fact  yet  more  remarkable  has  been  made  probable 
by  the  same  researches.  It  is  alleged  not  only  that  these  various 
languages  must  have  been  separated  from  one  another  or  from  an 
original  speech,  but  that  this  separation  was  caused  by  some  sud- 
den and  violent  disruption,  the  evidence  of  which  remains  in  the 
relations  of  these  languages  as  distinctly  set  forth  as  the  proof  of 
.the  breaking  of  the  strata  of  the  crust  of  the  earth  by  some  former 
convulsion  is  seen  in  the  broken  edges  of  corresponding  rocks  that 
stand  facing  each  other  on  opposite  sides  of  some  chasm.  This 
is  the  opinion  not  of  mere  credulous  bibliolators,  but  even  of  those 
who  reject  the  history  of  the  confusion  of  tongues  in  Genesis,  as 
an  oriental  fiction,  like  Herder,  and  of  such  scholars  as  Sharon 
Turner,  Abel  Remusat,  and  Niebuhr.  These  men  affirm  that  the 
differences  between  these  languages  are  not  such  as  would  have 
been  produced  by  the  slow  and  gradual  separation  of  a  people 
from  natural  causes,  but  such  as  indicate  a  sudden  and  violent 
disruption  of  their,  social  relations.  Whether  this  disruption  was 
the  dispersion  of  Babel  cannot  be  made  out  from  these  fossils  of 
ancient  thought,  but  this  result  of  philology  at  least  presents  a 
most  remarkable  and  startling  corroboration,  from  an  unexpected 
quarter,  of  th6  facts  related  in  Genesis. 

The  bearing  of  these  facts  on  the  question  before  us,  is  obvious. 
Were  the  families  of  man  diverse  races,  sprung  from  diverse  ori- 
gins, we  would  expect,  in  a  thing  so  artificial  and  conventional 
as  speech,  to  find  this  diversity  clearly  marked,  and  no  trace  of  a 
common  origin,  either  in  grammatical  forms,  or  in  the  signification 
attached  to  particular  words ;  and  we  would  also  expect  to  find 
the  most  ancient  languages  the  most  rude  and  simple  in  their 
structure.     On  the  contrary,  we  find  the  most  marvellous  resem- 


THE  ETHNOLOGICAL   OBJECTION.  440 

blances  in  form  and  signification  ;  and  also  the  most  ancient  lan- 
guages to  be  often  the  most  artificial  and  philosophical  in  their 
grammatical  forms  ;  and  also  the  repetition  of  these  peculiarities 
of  structure  and  signification  in  languages  that  are  separated 
geographically  by  the  widest  barriers.  These  facts  can  be  ex- 
plained only  on  the  hypothesis  that  these  languages  have  had  a 
common  source,  and  that  they  are  the  conglomerate  fragments  of  a 
formation  which  now  exists  only  in  these  imbedded  crystals,  whose 
fracture  and  form  tell  the  tale  of  their  common  origin  and  their 
former  connection.  This  then  involves  necessarily  the  conclusion 
that  these  diverse  families  were  once  united  in  one  common  head, 
and  are  the  offspring  of  one  common  parentage,  who  used  this 
primeval  and  now  disintegrated  language. 

The  mode  in  which  Prof  Agassiz  attempts  to  evade  the  force 
of  this  argument  is  a  most  remarkable  specimen  of  logic.  He 
dismisses  it  with  somewhat  of  a  sneer,  and  deems  its  force  broken 
by  the  simple  remark,  that  it  is  as  natural  for  men  to  talk  as  it  is 
for  dogs  to  bark,  or  asses  to  bray,  and  that  one  bird  does  not  learn 
its  song  from  another ;  and  hence  we  could  not  from  the  phenom- 
ena of  language  infer  unity  of  origin.  Now,  if  one  bird  does  not 
learn  its  song  from  another,  does  this  prove  that  one  human  being 
does  not  learn  its  language  from  another  ?  And  aside  from  the 
fact  that  it  is  not  natural  for  dogs  to  bark,  as  they  never  do  it 
in  their  wild  state,  is  there  no  difference  between  an  inarticulate 
cry  and  the  use  of  a  set  of  conventional  sounds  to  designate  cer- 
tain thoughts?  Does  not  the  one  imply  previous  arrangement 
and  agreement,  where  the  sounds  are  the  same,  whilst  the  other 
does  not?  If  we  argued  man's  original  unity  from  his  instinctive 
cries,  it  were  pertinent  to  refer  us  to  the  instinctive  cries  of  ani- 
mals ;  but  when,  from  the  fact  that  the  same  or  similar  colloca- 
tions of  syllabic  sounds  are  applied  by  different  races  to  the  same 
natural  objects,  we  argue  that  there  must  have  been  a  previous 
agreement  that  these  sounds  should  designate  these  objects,  the 
reference  to  the  braying  of  asses,  etc.,  looks  really  like  trifling. 

Another  proof  of  the  original  unity  of  the  families  of  mankind 
may  be  drawn  from  their  ancient  traditions.  Mr.  R.  W.  Mackay, 
of  the  modern  English  schobl  of  rationalism,  has  published  a  book 
called  the  Progress  of  the  Intellect,  which  has  all  the  dulness  of 
learning  without  any  of  its  profundity,  and  all  the  malice  of  wit 
without  any  of  its  keenness.  In  this  book  he  endeavors  to  serve 
up  all  the  religions  of  the  earth  into  a  sort  of  olla-podrida,  with 

29 


460  THE   ETHNOLOGICAL   OBJECTION. 

Paganism  and  Nihilism  for  spice  and  sweetening,  and  enough  of 
Christianity  to  act,  if  possible,  as  salt.  The  savory  dish  thus  pro- 
duced, we  have  no  disposition  to  deal  out  at  any  length.  But 
there  is  one  respect  in  which  his  efforts  are  not  wholly  useless. 
Gathering  together  with  no  small  industry  the  rehgious  traditions 
of  different  nations,  he  has  furnished  corroborations  of  the  Scrip- 
tural record,  which  infidelity  would  have  rejected,  had  they  been 
presented  by  a  Gale,  a  Bryant,  or  a  Faber,  as  mere  credulous  fan- 
cies. He  admits  the  universal  tradition  that  points  to  central  Asia 
as  the  home  and  cradle  of  the  human  race.  He  also  presents  the 
chaos ;  the  darkness  that  covered  the  face  of  the  great  deep ;  the 
brooding  of  the  Spirit  of  God  upon  the  surface  of  the  waters;  the 
myths  and  traditions  of  various  nations  alluding  to  a  primeval 
creation  of  light;  the  unfolding  of  the  firmament;  the  order  of  the 
six  days'  creation  and  the  rest  of  the  Sabbath ;  the  primitive  in- 
nocence of  man;  his  location  in  the  garden  of  Eden;  the  rivers 
and  trees  of  Paradise  ;  the  agency  of  the  woman  and  serpent  in 
the  Fall ;  the  sacredness  of  the  number  seven  ;  the  flood,  with  the 
ark,  olive  branch  and  dove ;  the  expectation  of  a  Messiah ;  the 
reign  of  righteousness  on  the  earth ;  and  of  a  final  conflagration. 
How  can  these  facts  be  fairly  explained?  When  the  traveller 
in  France  finds  in  all  its  provinces  traditions  and  representations 
of  one  man,  sometimes  coarse  and  rude,  at  other  times  exquisite 
and  accurate,  yet  all  retaining  those  lineaments  that  seem  burnt 
into  the  memory  of  her  people — are  not  these  facts  as  absolutely 
decisive  of  the  existence  of  Napoleon  as  if  he  actually  saw  the 
great  Corsican  ?  Were  any  man  to  attempt  seriously  to  prove  that 
Napoleon  was  only  a  myth,  and  these  traditional  memorials  but 
symbols  of  the  French  ideas  of  glory,  having  no  origin  in  some 
original  and  common  fact,  would  he  not  be  regarded  as  little  better 
<ihan  an  idiot?  Yet  why  should  that  be  insane  fatuity  in  modern 
4iistory,  which  is  profound  wisdom  in  ancient?  Why  should  this 
reasoning  make  a  man  a  fool  when  exercised  about  things  that 
are  well  known,  and  a  philosopher  when  exercised  about  things 
ihat  are  but  little  known?  If  these  universal  and  minute  memo- 
rials of  Napoleon  would  prove  his  existence,  at  least,  if  we  had  no 
other  evidence,  must  not  these  wide,  uniform  and  clear  traditions 
of  early  facts  in  the  world's  history  prove  that  they  also  existed? 
Must  there  not  have  been  an  original  ground-work  of  historical 
fact  to  support  traditions  so  uniform  and  striking?  It  is  not  neces- 
sary to  our  present  purpose  to  prove  that  the  precise  facts  recorded 


THE   ETHNOLOGICAL   OBJECTION.  K^l 

in  Genesis  are  the  originals  from  which  these  copies  were  made, 
although  this  we  might  show  to  be  probable,  independent  of  any 
proof  drawn  from  the  divine  origin  of  the  Bible.  All  that  we  need 
is  simply  the  obvious  and  necessary  admission  that  these  copies 
must  have  had  originals ;  and  that  these  originals  were  the  same 
general  facts.  That  nations  who  have  never  had  any  connection 
in  their  early  history  should  have  happened  to  invent  so  many 
traditions  so  nearly  alike,  is,  on  the  doctrine  of  probabilities,  to  the 
last  degree  improbable,  if  not  wholly  impossible.  The  most  natu- 
ral and  rational  explanation  surely  is,  that  these  traditions  are  the 
old  household  memories  of  the  primeval  homestead,  yet  lingering 
around  the  scattered  family,  which,  though  sometimes  clear. as  the 
recollections  of  the  child  who  has  tarried  at  the  parental  hearth 
until  its  scenes  and  teachings  are  written  indelibly  on  his  memory, 
and  at  others,  crude  and  vague  as  the  dreaming  reminiscences  of 
him  who  was  torn  away  in  the  tenderness  of  undeveloped  child- 
hood, yet  all  point  back  and  converge  in  a  common  family,  and  a 
common  home,  to  which  we  may  trace  these  wandering  tribes  of 
the  children  of  men. 

Not  less  conclusive,  did  our  space  permit  its  full  development,  is 
the  psychological  argument  for  the  unity  of  the  race.  The  great 
mystery  in  the  nature  of  man  is  Sin.  Like  the  bottomless  gulf 
in  the  Roman  Forum,  it  is  a  fathomless  abyss  whose  origin  none 
can  explain,  and  whose  yawning  greediness  nothing  can  fill  but 
the  immolation  of  the  noblest  and  best  that  has  ever  borne  the 
form  of  our  common  nature.  It  is  this  strange  and  fearful  fact 
that  sets  man  apart  from  all  other  earthly  creatures  in  a  mournful 
isolation  of  experience  and  history.  When  we  go  down  into  the 
depths  of  the  human  soul  and  search  the  chamber  of  its  records 
for  the  story  of  this  monstrous  birth,  we  are  met  at  the  very 
threshold  by  Conscience,  at  once  the  hoary  chronicler  of  the  past, 
and  the  terrible  prophet  of  the  future,  which  gives  us  the  clue  to  this 
mystery.  It  points  us  to  the  soiled  and  shattered  fragments  of 
noble  powers  and  high  affections,  which  once  stood  up  in  kingly 
erectness,  each  on  its  pedestal  and  throne  in  the  human  soul. 
It  traces  out  in  these  noble  ruins  the  record  of  some  fearful  con- 
vulsion in  the  past,  that  cast  down  and  shivered  these  old  and 
beautiful  occupants  of  this  stately  Pantheon  of  thought  and  affec- 
tion. It  tells  us  that  man  is  not  what  he  once  was,  but  is  fallen, 
and  has  become  a  guilty  and  godless  thing.  Telling  us  thus  of  a 
fall,  it  tells  us  of  an  ancient  unity,  of  a  time  when  man  was  one 


462  THE   ETHNOLOGICAL   OBJECTION. 

in  the  uufallen  past,  as  lie  is  one  in  the  fallen  present,  just  as  un- 
answerably as  the  columns  and  capitals  of  the  silent  temple  of  the 
sun,  tell  us  of  a  time  when  it  once  stood  in  the  unity  of  a  queenly 
and  faultless  symmetry  beneath  the  cloudless  skies  of  Palmyra. 
Now,  these  telling's  of  conscience  are  heard  in  every  branch  of  the 
scattered  family  of  man.  The  same  sad  proofs  of  brotherhood  in 
sin  and  sorrow,  of  common  parentage  and  common  fall,  of  de- 
pravity transmitted  by  universal  and  hereditary  taint,  meet  us  in 
every  race.  The  same  wail  of  remorseful  sorrow  comes  up  in 
mysterious  plaint  from  all ;  the  same  mournful  memories  of  pri- 
meval purity  now  soiled  and  dishonored ;  the  same  gleaming 
visions  of  an  Eden  innocence  that  has  faded  away,  leaving  only 
these  mute  longings  after  its  unforgotten  brightness  ;  the  same  dire 
and  terrific  phantoms  of  guilt  that  come  forth  to  awe  and  affright; 
the  same  deep  yearnings  after  the  unseen  and  the  eternal  in  the 
soul's  deepest  stirrings ;  and  the  same  sublime  hopes  that  shoot 
upward  to  the  "high  and  terrible  crystal," — are  found  alike  in 
every  race  of  every  hue.  The  unspeakable  gift  of  Christ  and  him 
crucified,  is  as  wide  in  its  efficacy  as  these  mournful  symptoms 
of  malady.  The  lofty  intellects  of  a  Pascal  and  a  Newton,  do  not 
grasp  it  with  a  keener  relish  and  a  deeper  sympathy  than  the 
besotted  Caffre  in  the  lonely  wilds  of  Africa,  or  the  crouching 
Pariah  in  the  steaming  jungles  of  India.  The  Cross  is  that  won- 
drous talisman  that  calls  forth  from  every  adventitious  guise  the 
imiversal  manhood  and  brotherhood  of  the  races.  And  when  the 
lowliest  African  is  "born  again,"  in  that  heavenly  birth  that  links 
into  a  new  and  holier  unity  the  fallen  descendants  of  the  first 
Adam,  he  is  found  to  exult  with  as  pure  a  gladness  as  the  honored 
heir  of  the  proudest  and  noblest  blood.  O  !  it  is  this  blessed  fact 
that  stands  in  lofty  and  indignant  rebuke  of  that  cold  and  cruel 
philosophy  that  would  wrest  from  the  humble  and  the  oppressed 
the  only  boon  that  is  beyond  the  grasp  of  an  unfeeling  avarice. 
And  this  whole  class  of  facts,  pointing  back  as  it  does  so  unerring- 
ly, to  some  great  spiritual  disruption  in  the  psychological  history 
of  our  race,  proves  that  there  was  once  a  time  and  place  in  the 
history  of  that  race  when  they  were  one  in  that  primeval  and  un- 
fallen  brightness  from  which  they  have  so  sadly  and  widely  lapsed. 
And  now  shall  we  give  up  this  great  truth  of  the  universal 
brotherhood  of  man,  around  which  throng  such  masses  of  evi- 
dence, because  of  the  few  flippant  questions  which  a  finical  phi- 
losophy may  think  unanswered?     Shall  this  mighty  thought  that 


THE   ETHNOLOGICAL   OBJECTION.  453 

thrilled  even  a  Roman  audience,  in  the  memorable  words  of 
Terence,  this  thought  that  has  fired  the  hearts  of  the  martyr 
spirits  of  the  world  in  their  weary  toils  for  an  erring  race,  this 
thought  that  underlies  the  whole  enterprise  of  Christian  missions, 
that  brought  Jesus  Christ  from  heaven  and  carried  Paul  to  the 
ends  of  the  earth,  be  abandoned  because  one  man's  skin  and  hair 
do  not  resemble  another's  ?  Shall  the  trifling  points  of  difference 
that  exist  between  the  races  of  men  be  allowed  to  prove  that  as  to 
the  human  species,  which  they  are  not  allowed  to  prove  as  to  any 
other  species  of  living  things  ?  Shall  the  pictures  of  black  races 
on  Egyptian  tombs  be  held  to  prove  their  separate  creation,  when 
the  fact  that  other  races,  equally  distinct  in  all  their  peculiarities, 
are  there  found  depicted,  is  not  held  to  prove  the  same  thing  in 
regard  to  them  ?  Is  there  not  something  unspeakably  cruel  and 
heartless  in  thus  cutting  loose  these  hopeless  and  unfortunate 
races  from  all  the  sympathies  of  a  common  brotherhood  in  the 
family  of  man  ;  in  robbing  them  of  the  most  priceless  blessings 
that  are  left  them  in  their  barbarism,  a  birthright  in  Adam  and  a 
hope  in  Christ ;  and  making  their  very  degradation,  which  should 
move  our  sympathies  to  act  for  their  relief,  the  pretext  for  a  fresh 
outrage  the  most  monstrous  and  atrocious  ?  Rob  these  feeble  and 
helpless  nations  of  their  beautiful  lands  where  they  repose  in 
happy  indolence ;  rob  them  of  their  gold  and  silver  and  gems 
that  they  have  gathered  from  their  rivers  and  mountains ;  rob 
them  of  their  little  worldly  substance  and  their  humble  homes; 
for  these  things  affect  not  their  highest  rights,  and  their  loss 
may  be  repaired :  but  oh  !  rob  them  not  of  their  parentage  in  a 
common  ancestry,  the  only  fact  that  is  left  to  encourage  us  to 
labor  for  their  elevation  ;  rob  them  of  everything  else,  but  rob 
them  not  at  least  of  hope ;  and  consign  them  not  in  their  neglect 
and  misfortune  to  that  hopeless  orphanage  of  degradation,  which, 
by  cutting  them  off  from  their  heritage  in  the  blood  that  flows 
from  Adam,  must  also  cut  them  off  from  that  richer  heritage  which 
they  may  obtain  in  the  blood  that  flows  from  Christ.  Tell  us  not 
that  these  results  are  not  necessary  to  the  position  we  are  oppos- 
mg,  when  even  an  Agassiz,  with  all  his  high  moral  feeling,  scru- 
ples not,  as  the  consequence  of  his  doctrine,  to  denounce  those 
noble  and  expansive  charities  that  would  girdle  the  earth  with 
Christian  churches  as  mere  "mock  philanthropy,"  and  idle  efforts 
to  contravene  the  settled  arrangements  of  Providence. 

No.     We  will  not  give  up  yet  the  great  truth  of  the  common 


454  THE   ETHNOLOGICAL   OBJECTION. 

brotherhood  of  humanity ;  we  will  not  disown  our  hapless,  unfor- 
tunate brother  because  he  has  become  a  wandering-  outcast;  we 
will  not  abandon  the  hopes  we  cherish  that  these  scattered  fami- 
lies shall  yet  be  restored  to  some  of  the  homestead  privileges  which 
they  have  forgotten.  These  prodigal  wanderers  shall  yet  hear  a 
voice  that  shall  awaken  the  memories  of  a  blessed  home  that  is 
lost,  and  shall  kindle  the  hopes  of  a  more  blessed  home  that  is  to 
be  found.  The  dreams  of  an  unforgotten  Eden  shall  yet  be  em- 
bodied in  the  better  paradise  of  the  future,  when  they  shall  come 
from  the  north  and  the  south,  the  east  and  the  west,  and  shall  sit 
down  in  the  kingdom  of  God.  The  cannibal  Zealander  shall 
come  blending  in  the  harmlessness  of  the  dove  before  the  cross ; 
the  fierce  Malay,  the  wild  Camanche,  the  gigantic  Patagonian, 
and  the  gentle  islander  of  the  sea,  shall  all  come  together  at  the 
feet  of  Jesus,  with  hearts  that  shall  throb  and  thrill  with  the 
clasping  love  of  a  common  origin,  a  common  trust  and  a  common 
destiny.  The  grovelling  Bushman,  the  squalid  Esquimaux,  and 
the  crouching  Hindoo,  shall  arise  from  the  dust  of  their  degrada- 
tion, and  stand  forth  in  the  lofty  erectness  of  a  manhood  in  Christ 
Jesus.  The  sublime  dreamings  of  Plato,  the  rapt  numbers  of  the 
Sibyl,  the  vague  longings  of  philosophy,  the  high  visions  of  poe- 
try, and  above  all,  the  magnificent  pictures  of  revelation,  the  ex- 
ulting strains  of  Isaiah  as  he  gazed  on  the  gorgeous  future,  the 
deep  sympathies  of  Paul  as  he  felt  the  throes  of  the  travailing 
earth  that  mutely  longed  for  the  manifestation  of  the  sons  of  God, 
and  the  higher,  grander  gazings  of  the  lonely  seer  of  Patmos  as 
he  saw  the  gatherings  to  the  great  day  of  God  Almighty,  and 
heard  the  voice  of  many  waters,  and  the  voice  of  mighty  thun- 
derings,  and  the  voice  of  a  great  multitude,  saying,  Alleluia,  for 
the  Lord  God  omnipotent  reigneth,— all  these  shall  be  fully  and 
gloriously  realized  in  that  future  when  the  scattered  and  divided 
nations  shall  be  gathered  into  the  glorious  sonship  of  God,  and 
the  unity  that  links  them  to  Adam  in  one  direction,  shall  receive 
its  bright  counterpart  and  fulfilment  in  the  noble  unity  that  links 
them  to  Christ  in  the  other.  It  is  because  we  believe  the  unity 
in  the  one  direction  to  be  the  condition  of  the  unity  in  the  other, 
that  we  so  earnestly  contend  for  it.  And  it  is  because  we  believe 
that  this  cold,  heartless,  Cain-like  theory,  that  would  discard  the 
brotherhood  of  the  unfortunate  and  degraded  because  of  their 
misfortune,  must  cripple  the  energies  of  those  who  labor  for  this 
magnificent  hope  of  the  future,  that  we  lift  up  against  it  a  protest 


THE  ETHNOLOGICAL   OBJECTION.  456 

SO  earnest  and  emphatic.  And  it  is  because  we  know  that  this 
selfish  monopoly  of  the  blood  of  Adam  shall  melt  away  before  the 
blaze  of  this  future  Sabbath  of  the  earth,  that  we  now  so  confi- 
dently predict  its  overthrow,  and  anticipate  the  time  when  it 
shall  not  only  be  believed  that  God  hath  made  of  one  blood  all 
nations  of  men  to  dwell  upon  the  face  of  the  whole  earth,  but 
when  in  the  fusing  brightness  of  these  Sabbatic  scenes  of  the 
future,  the  touching  and  beautiful  prayer  of  Christ  shall  receive 
its  broadest  and  grandest  fulfilment,  "  Neither  pray  I  for  these 
alone,  but  for  them  also  which  shall  believe  on  me  through  their 
word ;  that  they  all  may  be  one,  as  thou,  Father,  art  in  me,  and 
I  in  thee,  that  they  also  may  be  one  in  us."  Even  so,  amen,  and 
amen. 


» 


€\it  3Barmnnt|  nf  IRttiBlatinti  m^  3Muxd  $mn; 

WITH  ESPECIAL  REFERENCE  TO  GEOLOGY. 

TWO     LECTURES. 
BY 

L.    W.    GREEN,    D.D., 

PRESIDENT    OF     HAMPDEN     SIDNEY     COLLEGE. 


■i^r 


I. 


GENERAL  SPIRIT  OF  MODERN  PHILOSOPHY MIRACLES RECENT 

ORIGIN  OF  MAN — ^AND  THE  FINAL  CONFLAGRATION. 

The  spirit  of  infidelity  is  not  the  spirit  of  true  philosophy — 
intellectual,  physical  or  moral.  Doubt  is  to  the  mind  what 
hunger  is  to  the  body — the  stimulus  which  nature,  or  the  God  of 
nature,  has  provided  to  incite  and  prepare  us  for  the  enjoyment 
of  healthy  nutriment — but  it  is  not  that  very  nutriment  itself. 
Habitual  skepticism  is  intellectual  disease — the  atrophy  of  mind, 
the  ordinary  cause,  the  invariable  symptom  of  mental  inanition, 
or  ill-digested  knowledge — and  bears  the  same  relation  to  that 
calm  love  of  truth,  and  scrutiny  of  evidence,  which  characterizes 
all  large  and  healthy  understandings,  that  the  insane  and  insati- 
able craving  of  some  dyspeptic  patient,  after  stimulants  and  trash, 
bears  to  the  discriminating  relish  and  healthy  appetite  which  be- 
long to  every  vigorous  and  well-developed  human  frame.  To 
doubt  may  be  "the  beginning  of  philosophy;"  but  devout  and 
assured  faith  in  God  and  nature — this  is  its  glorious  and  trium- 
phant consummation.  Hence,  of  all  those  mighty  men  who  have 
stood  foremost  in  every  department  of  inquiry — have  enlarged  the 
boundaries  of  knowledge — have  fathomed  the  depths  of  the  human 
understanding — unveiled  the  mysteries  of  nature — penetrated  the 
infinitudes  of  space,  or  mastering  the  whole  wide  domain  of  matter 
and  of  mind,  have  given  new  laws  to  guide  our  investigations  in 
either — your  Bacon,  your  Locke,  your  Newton,  Leibnitz,  Des 
Cartes,  Euler,  Kepler,  Tycho  Brache — of  all  those  mighty  men 
of  old,  who  tower  before  us,  there,  upon  the  page  of  history,  in 
their  colossal  grandeur  and  gigantic  strength,  high  above  all  their 
fellows,  the  luminaries  of  their  own  age,  and  of  all  succeeding 
generations — scarce  one  has  been  an  unbeliever.  "  I  had  rather 
believe  all  the  fables  of  the  Legend,  the  Shaster  and  the  Koran," 
exclaims  Lord  Bacon,  "  than  that  this  universal  frame  is  without 


460  THE   HARMONY  OF  REVELATION 

a  mind."  And,  in  his  "Advancement  of  Learning,"  "  A  little  or 
superficial  knowledge  of  philosophy  may  incline  a  man's  mind  to 
atheism  ;  but  depth  in  philosophy  biingeth  men's  minds  about  to 
religion." 

On  the  contrary,  there  is  a  sympathy  deep,  intense,  all-pervad- 
ing— a  harmony  profound,  stupendous,  universal,  between  the 
revelations  of  the  Bible  and  the  discoveries  of  modern  science,  in 
the  broadest  range  and  the  boldest  grasp  of  its  largest  and  most 
comprehensive  generalizations — in  the  whole  spirit,  tone  and 
temper  of  its  legitimate  inquiries — in  that  attitude  of  devout 
humility  and  conscious  ignorance,  yet  of  erect  and  fearless,  of 
hopeful  and  even  confident  attention,  with  which  she  stands  in 
the  great  temple  of  nature,  and  traces  each  "  Footprint"  of  the 
Almighty,  whether  amidst  the  infinitude  of  space  or  amidst  the 
depths  of  a  past  eternity — the  chronicles  of  extinct  races,  or  the 
wreck  of  departed  worlds. 

If  the  Creator  of  the  universe  be,  indeed,  an  intelligent  and 
moral  agent — infinite  in  wisdom  and  goodness,  as  boundless  in 
his  power — then,  besides  the  physical  universe  around  us,  there 
is  another^  of  rational  and  moral  beings,  of  correspondent  extent, 
variety  and  grandeur. 

Now  let  any  one  appropriate,  if  he  can,  at  a  single  glance  of 
thought,  all  that  our  modern  astronomy  has  discovered — the  uni- 
verse of  greatness  above  us,  which  the  telescope  has  revealed, 
and  the  descending  universe  of  littleness,  which  the  microscope 
has  made  known — let  him  accept  her  boldest  assertions  as  indu- 
bitable truths,  and  follow  onward  in  her  most  adventurous  specu- 
lations, till  the  fevered  brain  grows  dizzy,  and  the  strained  in- 
tellect bewildered,  as  whirling  by  suns  and  systems,  as  they  rise, 
in  rapid  and  dazzhng  succession,  in  ever-enlarging  magnitude 
and  increasing  splendor  around,  he  strives  to  picture  to  his  im- 
agination that  lapse  of  ages  and  those  intervals  of  space  for 
which  arithmetic  has  no  formula,  and  l^anguage  no  expression, 
and  the  mind  of  man,  in  its  boldest  efforts,  no  approxiinate  con- 
ception. Then  let  him  turn  to  the  Bible,  and  in  the  revelations 
there  will  he  find  the  parallel  and  exact  counterpart  of  all  which, 
in  the  grandeur  of  the  material  creation,  has  most  awed  and  sub- 
dued, most  enlarged  and  exalted,  his  conceptions.  Will  he  not 
find  here,  too,  the  march  and  the  movement  of  a  high  moral 
administration — the  progressive  evolution  of  one  stupendous  sys- 
tem, coeval  with  all  ages,  and  coextensive  with  all  worlds — the 


AND  NATUEAL  SCIENCE.  461 

omnipresent  majesty  of  one  supreme  and  all-pervading  legislation, 
binding  together,  as  in  one  bond  of  sympathy,  the  remotest  parts 
of  this  great  moral  universe — system  after  system  of  intelligent 
existences — -angels  and  archangels,  and  cherubim  and  seraphim, 
rising  one  above  another,  in  ever-ascending  progression,  indefi- 
nitely high,  until  at  last  the  eye  of  inspiration  is  dimmed  with 
excessive  radiance,  and  the  telescope  of  revelation  rests  upon  those 
upper  Intelligences — those  mysterious  and  nameless  "  Power*  «w 
heavenly  -places,^'  fur  which  earth  presents  no  analogies,  and 
language  has  no  titles — yet  unto  them  "is  made  known  through 
Christ  the  manifold  loisdom  of  God  ?" 

And  now,  when  he  learns  that  the  whole  family  in  heaven  look 
with  in  tensest  sympathy  upon  our  fallen  race ;  that  the  Great 
Father  of  all  has  so  loved  the  world  that  he  sent  his  own  Son 
upon  an  errand  of  infinite  compassion  to  redeem  it — that  he  who 
was  mighty  to  save,  "  travailed  in  the  greatness  of  his  strength" 
and  all  the  attributes  of  the  Godhead  were  summoned  and  con- 
centrated here,  as  for  some  high  achievement;  while  he  contem- 
plates with  adoring  wonder  this  amazing  condescension,  will  he 
not  find  an  analogy,  at  least,  if  not  an  adequate  illustration,  in 
the  ways  of  him  who,  though  he  has  garnished  the  heavens  by 
his  power,  and  called  forth  the  stars  by  number,  hath  given  to 
Saturn  his  girdle  of  light,  and  to  the  sun  his  diadem  of  fire — yet 
hath  stooped  to  gild  the  insect's  wing,  and  to  pencil  the  hues  of 
the  lowliest  floweret  of  the  valley  ;  nay,  hath  not  disdained  to 
lavish  all  the  resources  of  his  infinite  wisdom,  his  boundless 
benevolence,  and  Almighty  power,  in  moulding  the  minutest 
portion  of  the  minutest  member  of  one  of  those  invisible  animal- 
culae,  whose  teeming  myriads  live,  and  revel,  and  die  unseen, 
amidst  the  sweets  and  fragrance  of  a  single  flower.  Doth  God 
care  for  the  flower  of  the  field? — and  will  he  not  care  for  you, 
oh  ye  of  little  faith? 

Did  it  become  him  thus  to  concentrate  all  the  attributes  of  the 
Godhead,  and  lavish  all  the  resources  of  omnipotence  on  such  as 
these,  and  is  it  inconsistent  with  the  dignity  of  his  exalted  nature 
that  he  should  stoop  to  redeem  a  whole  lost  world  of  immortal 
spirits  ? 

Again,  long  centuries  before  Herschell  handled  a  telescope,  or 
Newton  had  studied  the  laws  of  the  planetary  motions,  or  Cuvier 
had  touched  a  fossil  bone,  or  Hume  had  reasoned  upon  the  per- 
manency of  a  course  of  nature  ;  while  all  those  astounding  facts 


462  THE   HARMONY   OF   HEVELATION 

of  the  cognate  sciences,  astronomy  and  geology,  which  liave 
thrown  such  startling  light  upon  the  history  of  our  own,  and 
perhaps  all  other  globes,  lay  buried  deep  beneath  the  huge  strata, 
where  they  had  been  chronicled  for  ages,  or  lost  amidst  the  un- 
fathomed  depths  of  space ;  a  Galilean  fisherman  has  furnished 
us  with  a  broad  outline  of  modern  science ;  distinctly  stated  the 
fundamental  sophism  of  that  atheistic  metaphysic,  which  consti- 
tutes the  basis  of  all  the  infidelity  of  modern  times,  and  given  to 
it  the  very  refutation  which  is  oflfered  by  the  most  distinguished 
geologists  of  our  day.  In  the  last  days,  according  to  the  apostle 
(2  Pet.  ch.  iii.),  shall  arise  a  new  form  of  infidelity.  The  ob- 
jector shall  take  his  stand  upon  the  invariable  operation  of 
nature's  laws,  and  immutable  succession  of  nature's  phenomena  : 
"  In  the  last  days  shall  come  scoffers,  saying,  where  is  the  promise 
of  his  coming,  for  since  the  fathers  fell  asleep,  all  things  remain 
as  they  luere  from  the  beginning  of  the  creation?"  To  this  the 
apostle  answers,  in  language  precisely  corresponding  with  that 
of  our  scientific  geologist,  and  capable,  with  a  very  slight  and 
legitimate  modification,  of  including  all  his  most  important  prin- 
ciples :  "  The  present  condition  of  our  globe  is  not  the  first,  and 
shall  not  be  its  final  state.  Our  present  continents  were  once 
submerged  beneath  the  ocean,  from  which  'e|  vduiog'  they  at 
length  arose,  were  then  swept  by  a  terrific  deluge,  and  having 
thus  passed  through  successive  catastrophes,  are  yet  reserved  for 
another  and  more  fearful  visitation, — '  Reserved  unto  fire.'' "  But 
think  not  tiiat  this  destruction  spoken  of  will  be  anniliUation ; 
it  will  be  purification  rather.  The  former  condition  of  our  globe 
adapted  it  for  the  abode  of  irrational  animals  only ;  the  last  great 
crisis  in  its  history,  prepared  it  for  the  higher  order  of  rational 
and  moral  agents.  The  next  will  be  another  step  in  the  ascend- 
ing series  of  God's  providential  arrangements,  and  instead  of  a 
habitation  for  imperfect  fallen  beings,  it  will  be  the  theatre  of  a 
glorious  moral  manifestation,  the  blissful  abode  of  holy,  happy  in- 
telligences. "Nevertheless,  we  look  for  new  heavens  and  a  new 
earth,  wherein  dwelleth  righteousness." 

Indeed,  the  whole  tone  and  tendency  of  our  modern  geology, 
when  rightly  tinderstood,  is  intensely  and  profoundly  Christian. 
It  furnishes  by  far  the  most  conclusive  of  all  arguments  for  the 
existence  of  a  God ;  explodes  the  atheistic  theory  of  an  infinite 
series  of  beings ;  and  thus  dispels  the  last  remaining  doubt  that 
might  otherwise  have  thrown  its  shadow  over  the  soul  of  man. 


A2\"D  NATURAL  SCIEN-CE.  463 

It  refutes  the  only  plausible  objection  that  has  ever  been  devised 
against  the  miraculous  evidence  of  the  Gospel  History  (Hume's 
celebrated  argument  against  miracles) ;  for  it  lives  amidst  the  in- 
numerable miracles  of  ages  past,  and  reads  and  acknowledges 
their  record,  engraven  indelibly  upon  the  everlasting  rocks.  Its 
spirit,  rightly  understood,  is  the  spirit  of  awe  and  reverence.  It 
places  us  at  once,  amidst  the  infinitude  of  ages  and  the  im- 
mensity of  space ;  it  tells  of  catastrophes  long  since  past,  and  of 
other  catastrophes  yet  to  come ;  of  stupendous  powers,  even  now 
at  work  all  around  us,  far  surpassing  our  conception,  which  have 
left  the  traces  of  their  agency  deep  on  the  Vvhole  face  of  nature; 
in  the  huge  mountains  they  have  heaped  up,  the  valleys  they 
have  hollowed  out;  in  the  masses  of  dislocated  strata,  torn  from 
their  native  beds,  and  dashed  together  in  wild  confusion ;  or 
twisted  and  bent  in  all  directions  from  their  horizontal  position, 
as  if  held  fast  by  some  Titanic  hand,  and  writhing  amidst  the 
agonies  of  some  terrible  convulsion. 

Amidst  the  wild  play  of  these  terrific  powers,  the  mighty  suc- 
cession of  these  incalculable  ages,  she  traces  the  steady  march 
oi  one  vast  and  co7nj)rehenslve  plan  ;  and  the  direct  interposition, 
often  repeated  and  distinctly  visible,  of  the  same  almighty  power, 
which  originated  the  whole  design  at  first,  and  still  presides  over 
every  movement  of  the  complicated  machinery.  The  theology 
of  natural  science,  then,  is  in  perfect  harmony  with  the  theology 
of  the  Bible.  She  starts  with  one  instinct  ice  jyriiiciple,  one  in- 
tuitive conviction,  of  the  invariable  connection  between  a  cause 
and  its  appropriate  effect ;  and  by  the  lights  of  this  single 
principle,  she  deciphers  the  hieroglyphics  of  dynasties  long  en- 
tombed, and  penetrates  the  mysteries  of  the  celestial  motions, 
and  rises,  step  by  step,  with  irresistible  demonstration,  to  a  First 
Great  Cause,  that  can  exist,  without  absorbing  all  subordinate 
causes  into  his  own  mysterious  being,  and  operate  without  merg- 
ing all  inferior  agency  in  his  own  inscrutable  omnipotence.  But 
she  bears  along  with  her  another  principle,  alike  immediate, 
universal,  irresistible,  coeval  with  the  origin  of  the  race,  coexten- 
sive with  the  globe,  inseparable  from  the  constitution  of  our 
nature — the  intuitive  conviction  of  the  relatioii  between  right  and 
wro7ig,  that  there  is  a  moral  element  in  man,  and  a  moral  law  in 
the  universe,  that  the  highest  power  and  the  highest  right  are  at 
one,  a?id  both  are  enthroned,  supreme  over  all  worlds. 

And  now  that  almighty  power  and  infinite  hoHness  are  en- 


464  THE   HARMONY   OF   REVELAriON 

throned  together,  let  natural  science  accumulate  her  facts  and 
multiply  her  demonstrations.  Let  Astronomy  enlarge  each  world 
into  a  system,  and  each  system  into  a  universe  of  suns,  pouring 
their  blazing  radiance  over  our  midnight  skies,  with  their  attend- 
ant planets,  sweeping  over  orbits  of  illimitable  extent.  Let  Geol- 
ogy transform  each  individual  of  its  extinct  races  into  a  separate 
species ;  and  each  species  into  the  representative  of  an  era  ;  and 
expand  each  era  over  incalculable  ages.  Let  the  eye  of  man 
be  kindled  up  with  seraphic  vision,  and  the  intellect  of  man  be 
moulded  to  the  stature  of  tall  archangels,  that  he  may  stand  upon 
some  high  eminence  in  the  upper  skies,  and  looking  abroad  over 
the  immensity  around  him,  may  discover  new  systems  of  worlds, 
which  no  telescope  as  yet  has  brought  within  the  scope  of  human 
vision ;  and  from  that  new  and  untrodden  field  of  observation, 
gather  fresh  evidences  of  the  existence  of  a  God,  and  fresh  illus- 
trations of  all  his  attributes  ;  yet  would  the  Christian  welcome 
joyfully,  and  appropriate  each  successive  revelation.  For  at  each 
step,  in  the  onward  progress  of  this  high  argument,  as  fact  was 
piled  on  fact,  and  illustration  on  illustration,  and  this  ethereal 
intelligence,  kindling  with  the  grandeur  of  his  theme,  bore  every 
understanding  and  every  will  along  upon  the  rapid  tide  of  a  re- 
sistless and  overwhelming  demonstration,  still,  as  the  earth  faded 
from  our  view,  and  nought  but  immensity  and  eternity  was  there 
around  us,  would  not  the  reverence,  and  solemnity,  and  breathless 
awe  of  eternity  rest  upon  our  spirits?  Nay,  could  that  audacious 
dream  of  ancient  and  modern  impiety  be  realized,  and  the  mys- 
tery, that  ever  from  of  old,  has  shrouded  the  invisible  and  eternal 
one  from  human  gaze,  be  all  laid  bare,  and  we  be  introduced  into 
the  presence-chamber  of  the  Most  High,  and  stand  face  to  face 
with  God ;  would  we  not  find  ther^e  too,  enthroned  above  all 
worlds,  eternal  justice  and  almighty  power?  and  beneath  the 
broad  blaze  of  that  omniscient  eye,  and  with  all  our  sins  upon  us, 
would  not  the  language  of  nature  be  the  echo  of  that  voice,  which 
startled  the  patriarch  of  old,  when  in  visions  of  the  night,  when 
deep  sleep  falleth  upon  men,  "  A  Spirit  passed  before  his  face,  and 
the  hair  of  his  head  stood  up,"  and  a  voice  was  heard  amidst  the 
stillness  of  the  midnight,  "Shall  mortal  man  be  just  with  God? 
A  man  with  his  maker .'"  And  the  awe-struck  patriarch  ex- 
claimed, ^^ How  shall  man  be  just  ivith  God?  For  he  is  not  a 
man  as  I  am,  that  I  should  enter  into  judgment  with  him  ;  neither 
is  there  a  day's-man  betwixt  us,  that  he  might  lay  his  hand  upon 


W- 


AND   NATURAL   SCIENCE.  465 


US  both."  Such,  then,  is  the  tlieology  of  Matuial  science.  Such 
the  utmost  goal  of  her  most  magnificent  discoveries,  and  proudest 
demonstrations.  They  "shut  us  up"  absolutely  to  the  "faith." 
They  serve  as  a  schoohiiaster  to  bring  us  unto  Christ,  in  whom 
alone,  "God  can  be  just,  and  justify  the  ungodly." 

We  have  thus  presented  a  brief  and  rapid  view  of  that  mutual 
harmony  which  prevails  between  the  discoveries  of  science  and 
the  revelations  of  the  Bible,  in  their  broad  outline,  their  general 
tone  and  spirit,  their  tendency  and  ultimate  results. 

That  amidst  this  general  harmony  there  should  nevertheless 
arise  apparent  discrepancies  and  real  difficulties,  difficulties  more 
easy  to  be  discovered  than  to  be  solved,  lies  manifestly  in  the  na- 
ture of  the  case,  and  will  surprise  no  one  who  remembers  those 
strange  and  inexplicable  anomalies  that  present  themselves  in  the- 
phenomena  of  nature;  those  irregularities  in  the  movements  of 
the  universe  that  seem  to  threaten  its  destruction  ;  those  pertur- 
bations from  unseen  causes  in  the  orbits  of  our  planets ;  those 
huge  chasms  in  the  order  of  the  creation,  where  its  progress  seems 
to  be  suddenly  arrested,  its  harmony  interrupted,  its  best  estab- 
lished analogies  all  defiled  ;  yet  that,  in  every  instance,  unwaver- 
ing confidence  in  the  very  harmony  thus  apparently  violated,  has 
suggested  ihetriie  solution;  and  the  solution,  when  attained,  has 
confirmed  the  harmony ;  thus,  by  progressive  approximation,  es- 
tablishing the  scientific  assurance  that  each  appareiit  anomaly 
will  hereafter  be  merged  in  some  higher  law,  and  the  difficulties 
which  our  ignorance  has  suggested  will  be  removed,  as  heretofore, 
by  our  advancing  knowledge.  It  is  manifestly  impossible,  that 
any  human  theory  should  be  able  to  embrace  and  harmonize  all 
the  phenomena  of  the  physical  or  moral  universe,  for  the  human 
mind  is  finite  ;  and  the  scheme  of  the  universe,  devised  by  an  in- 
finite intelligence,  if  not  absolutely  infinite,  like  its  author,  is  yet 
vast,  beyond  all  powers  of  conception  ;  mcluding  all  worlds  and 
all  systems,  with  their  myriad  inhabitants,  and  their  manifold  re- 
lations ;  stretching  over  the  whole  infinitude  of  space,  and  eter- 
nity of  duration.  Hence,  the  very  advance  in  science  which  solves 
one  difficulty,  often  discovers  many  more  to  be  solved  ;  for  our 
ignorance  and  our  knowledge  seem  to  be  inseparable  correlatives; 
the  opposite  poles  of  the  same  mysterious  potency ;  and  every  en- 
largement of  the  boundaries  of  the  known,  is  a  correspondent  ex- 
tension of  the  vast  and  limitless  unknown.  Let  him,  therefore, 
declaim  against  apparent  difficulties  in  the  Bible,  whose  theory 

30 


466  TUE   HARMONY    OF   REVELATION 

can  comprehend  and  explain  all  the  mysteries  in  the  phenomena 
of  nature,  and  in  the  existence  and  character  of  the  God  of  na- 
ture !  For,  let  it  not  be  forgotten,  that  if  the  Bible  be  from  God, 
then  there  is  not  only  a  probability,  but  a  certainty,  that  it  will  be 
liable  to  the  same  objections,  and  from  the  sa?ne  causes,  which  are 
urged  against  his  existence,  and  his  character — his  natural  gov- 
ernment and  his  moral  legislation.  That  mysterious  and  incom- 
prehensible eternity  of  God,  without  a  beginning  and  without  an 
end,  present  through  all  time,  yet  without  relation  to  time  !  That 
omnipresence  of  God,  pervading  all  space,  yet  bearing  no  relation 
to  it — intensely  present  in  the  totality  of  his  attributes  in  the  most 
distant  portions  of  his  universe,  at  once,  at  every  moment  in  time, 
and  every  point  in  space  !  That  invisible  and  fearful  moral  gov- 
ernment of  his,  the  unchangeable  enemy  of  sin,  encompassing  us 
on  every  side,  with  its  terrible  instances  of  moral  retribution  here, 
and  premonitions  of  still  more  fearful  punishments  hereafter ! 
That  absolute  sovereignty  in  the  distribution  of  his  favors  amongst 
men,  guided  by  infinite  wisdom  doubtless,  yet  according  to  a  law 
which  baffles  our  scrutiny,  and  heeds  not  our  murmurs  !  Let  any 
man  consider  for  a  moment  what  are  the  ordinary  objections 
against  divine  revelation,  and  he  will  find  that  they  are  princi- 
pally aimed  at  the  being,  or  character,  or  government  of  God,  as 
revealed  in  the  works  of  nature — and  amount  to  this,  that  the 
Bible  is  the  hook  of  God,  the  transcript  of  his  wisdom,  holiness 
and  justice,  imbued  with  his  spirit,  and  overshadowed  by  the  awful 
majesty  of  his  mysterious  being.  The  most  fearful  tendency  of 
scientific  skepticism,  metaphysical  and  physical,  in  modern  times, 
has  been  and  is,  to  deny  the  existence  of  a  personal  God,  and  by 
necessary  consequence,  the  reality  of  all  moral  distinctions,  and  all 
moral  obligation.  The  transcendental  pantheist  does  not  aim  his 
blows  at  Christianity  exclusively  or  mainly,  but  at  the  existence 
of  a  Deity,  distinct  from  the  universe  which  he  has  made;  and 
of  a  moral  government  distinct  from  the  blind  agency  of  natural 
law.  He,  even,  patronizes  Christianity,  and  honors  Christ  as  the 
^•Divine  Man,''^  the  latest  and  most  wonderful  manifestation  of 
the  infinite  in  the  finite.  The  school  of  Lamarck,  Oken,  and 
other  advocates  of  the  development  hypothesis,  only  touch  Chris- 
tianity as  they  may  be  supposed  to  sap  our  faith  in  the  existence 
of  God,  or  the  natural  immortality  of  the  soul  of  man.  The  cel- 
ebrated argument  of  Hume  against  the  miracles  of  the  Bible,  is 
equally  conclusive  against  the  miracles  of  creation,  and  all  the 


^''        AND  NATURAL  SCIENCE.  4B7 

miracles  of  geology ;  and  its  fundamental  principle  is  accordingly 
applied  (in  his  treatise  on  the  natural  history  of  religion)  to  anni- 
hilate our  belief  in  the  existence  of  a  God.  And  what  is  still 
more  to  our  purpose  here,  it  will  be  found  in  the  course  of  our  dis- 
cussion, that  the  most  serious  geological  objection  against  the  truth 
of  the  Bible  is  based  upon  a  similar  assumption.  Indeed,  we  feel 
assured  that  all  objections  against  the  Bible,  theoretical  or  practi- 
cal, whether  uttered  by  philosophy,  or  indistinctly /eZ^  in  common 
life,  are  based  upon  the  vague,  almost  unconscious  impression, 
that "  7%ere  15  ??o  God  f^  and  could  we  produce  upon  the  minds 
of  men  the  profound  and  abiding  conviction  of  his  existence  and 
his  presence,  of  the  awful  majesty  that  overshadovvs  us,  the  om- 
niscient eye  that  rests  upon  us,  the  infinite  holiness  that  encom- 
passes us  on  every  side,  all  the  illusions  of  skepticism  would  spon- 
taneously vanish.  Hence,  the  great  difficulty  in  practical  life  is 
not  to  lead  men  to  believe  the  miracles  of  the  gospel,  but  that  still 
more  stupendous  miracle,  which  by  day  and  night  is  around  us 
everywhere,  of  an  omnipresent  Creator,  and  an  invisible  and  fear- 
ful moral  government ;  and  in  philosophy^  to  disenchant  mankind 
of  that  fond  imagination  of  a  law  without  an  hitelligent  legisla- 
tor, and  A  COURSE  of  nature  independent  of  an  author  of 

NATURE. 

The  multitude  of  objections  against  Christianity — the  variety 
of  the  sources  from  which  they  are  derived — the  earnestness,  in- 
genuity and  confidence  with  which  they  have  been  urged — the 
learning,  eloquence  and  genius  by  which  they  have  been  sus- 
tained, have  led  many  to  conclude  without  the  labor  of  investiga- 
tion, that  a  book  against  which  so  many  objections  had  been 
urged,  is  one  of  suspicious  and  objectionable  character,  and  of 
doubtful  authority  at  best.  As  well  might  it  be  contended,  that 
the  granite  ramparts  of  some  rock-bound  coast,  which,  for  eigh- 
teen successive  centuries,  have  hurled  back  the  billows  that  dashed 
in  impotent  fury  at  their  feet,  are  of  doubtful  durability  and 
strength.  Far  from  being  legitimate  occasion  of  alarm  to  the 
Christian,  or  idle  exultation  to  the  unbeliever,  they  really  constitute 
qn  independent  and  most  powerful  argument  for  its  divine  original. 
For,  if  the  Bible  be  from  God,  then  it  is  divine  and  perfect  truth, 
and  cannot  possibly  harmonize  with  erroneous  or  defective  views 
on  any  subjects  which  it  treats ;  and  must,  therefore,  from  the 
very  necessity  of  the  case,  meet  new  objections  from  each  new 
phase  of  human  science,  in  all  its  revolutions,  necessarily  imper- 


468  THE  HABMONY   OF   REVELATION 

feet  Still.  Now  Christianity  comes  forth  before  the  w  (irld  with 
high  pretensions.  She  presents  a  broad  front  to  every  assailant. 
As  a  theory  of  God  and  man,  of  time  and  eternity,  and  of  the 
universe  itself,  it  sweeps  a  stupendous  circle  of  thought — stretches 
over  the  whole  wide  field  of  human  knowledge— touches  upon  all 
the  varied  phenomena  of  the  intellectual,  moral  and  physical  cre- 
ation— embraces,  in  historical  narrative  and  prophetical  delinea- 
tion, the  whole  history  of  the  world  as  God^s  world,  and  of  the 
human  race  as  one  in  origin  and  destiny,  through  a  period  of 
more  than  three  thousand  years,  from  the  earliest  patriarchal  ages 
to  the  Roman  emperors,  and  thence  to  the  end  of  time — thus  pre- 
senting an  almost  infinitude  of  points,  where  it  can  be  confronted 
with  the  matured  results  of  human  investigation  in  every  depart- 
ment of  inquiry.  With  all  this,  she  comes  before  the  world,  and 
demands  universal  belief  and  universal  obedience.  She  courts 
investigation — she  invites  scrutiny — she  challenges  discussion- 
she  throws  down  her  gauntlet  of  defiance  to  every  antagonist — 
and,  in  every  age,  a  thousand  foes  have  leaped  forward  to  mingle 
in  the  assault.  They  come  from  every  quarter,  and  of  every 
character — each  hoary  superstition,  each  beardless  science.  They 
wield  every  weapon  of  refined  or  barbarous  warfare,  drawn  from 
the  domain  of  history  or  fiction,  of  imagination  or  of  fact.  They 
dig  into  the  bowels  of  the  earth,  and  hew  the  granite  mountain 
— they  explore  the  unfalhomed  depths  of  space — search  the  sep- 
ulchres of  buried  nations — decipher  hieroglyphical  inscriptions  in 
temples,  pyramids  and  tombs — stud}'  the  fabulous  genealogies, 
and  fabulous  astronomies  of  races  whose  sublime  progenitors,  ac- 
cording to  their  own  account,  must  have  been  contemporaries  of 
the  Saurian  tribes  of  an  earlier  world. 

There  is  not  a  false  religion  upon  earth  that  could  bear  the 
test  of  such  a  scrutiny  for  a  single  year— that  would  not  vanish 
instantaneously  before  the  light  of  a  single  science.  The  tele- 
scope and  microscope  alone  would  suffice  to  overthrow  all  the  an- 
cient rehgions  of  Farther  Asia.  That  the  sacred  Scriptures  should 
have  come  forth  not  only  unharmed,  but  victorious  from  all  the 
conflicts  of  eighteen  centuries ;  that  not  one  of  their  fifty  writer's 
has  ever  uttered  or  suggested  an  opinion  contrary  to  any  of  those 
facts  which  the  lapse  of  twenty-three  hundred  years  has  revealed  ; 
that  each  new  discovery  in  science — each  fact  drawn  forth  from 
jpyramid  or  pillar,  from  sepulchre  or  coin,  from  mutilated  motiu- 
ment  or  half-defaced  inscription,  should  only  serve  to  throw  new 


AND   NATURAL   SCIENCE.  469 

light  upon  their  meaning,  and  add  new  evidence  to  their  credi- 
bility, is,  perhaps,  the  completest  specimen  which  the  whole  range 
of  human  learning  has  yet  afforded  of  the  truth  of  a  theory  es- 
tablished by  millions  of  independent  harmonies ;  and  mounting 
i^p,  in  their  combined  and  multiple  lesult,  to  billions  of  probabili- 
ties in  its  favor,  with  absolutely  nothing  to  the  contrary. 

The  history  of  these  objections  against  Christianity  would  be, 
indeed,  her  proudest  vindication.  Geology  herself,  in  all  her 
cycles,  does  not  present  more  curious  specimens  of  extinct  species, 
than  these  successive  infidel  objections,  long  buried  and  forgotten 
beneath  the  huge  masses  of  argument  and  learning,  with  which 
consecrated  genius  has  overwhelmed  and  preserved  them — at 
once  their  monument  and  sepulchre.  First,  it  was  objected, 
against  the  genuineness  of  the  sacred  records — "  That  we  have 
not  the  very  works  of  the  evangelists  and  apostles  themselves." 
Sacred  learning  has  distinctly  proven  that  these  identical  writings 
existed,  and  were  read  in  public  assemblies  throughout  the  civil- 
ized world,  during  the  first  century — were  quoted  by  numerous 
writers,  their  immediate  successors,  during  the  three  succeeding 
centuries,  in  such  profusion,  that  the  whole  New  Testament,  in 
every  essential  fact  and  doctrine,  might  be  reconstructed  from  the 
quotations  by  these  various  authors ;  thus  presenting  a  larger 
amount  of  testimony,  to  this  single  book,  in  the  course  of  three 
centuries,  than  could  be  gathered,  from  all  the  writers^  of  all 
centuries^  in  behalf  of  the  Greek  and  Roman  classics,  all  com- 
bined. It  was  then  objected,  against  their  "  uncorrupted  preser- 
vation,^^ "  That  they  had  been  transmitted,  through  many  cen- 
turies, by  means  of  various  manuscripts,  written  by  different 
hands  ;  and  that  Mill,  and  other  critics,  had  discovered  a  corres- 
ponding number  of  various  readings,  casting  thus  a  serious  doubt 
over  the  integrity  and  authority  of  the  received  text."  The  most 
profound  investigations  of  modern  times  have  proven  that  all 
these  doubtful  readings  are  really  of  slight  importance ;  and, 
even  were  each  admitted,  or  the  passages  in  which  they  occur  all 
stricken  from  the  Bible,  not  one  essential  doctrine  of  our  faith 
would  be,  in  the  slightest  degree,  afl^ected  ;  and  the  great  fabric 
of  sacred  truth  would  remain  as  complete  in  its  proportions,  its 
symmetry  and  strength,  as  some  vast  cathedral,  from  whose 
strong  foundation,  or  lofty  dome,  the  hand  of  folly,  or  the  lapse 
of  time,  had  crumbled  the  minutest  portion  of  the  cement,  which 


470  THE   HARMONY   OF   REVELATION 

served  to  unite,  but  did  not  constitute,   the  massive  marble  of 
vi^hich  the  building  was  composed. 

Driven  by  successive  defeats  from  the  sure  terra  firma  of  his- 
torical testimony,  infidelity  took  refuge  amidst  the  hieroglyphics 
of  Egypt  and  the  astronomy  of  the  Hindoos.  Bailly  proved,  to 
his  own  satisfaction,  from  the  record  of  eclipses  amongst  the 
Hindoos,  that  the  existence  of  man  upon  earth  was  many  thou- 
sand years  earlier  than  the  Mosaic  history  would  allow ;  and 
this  whimsical  vagary  of  a  visionary  man,  though  hooted  out  of 
France  by  the  wit  of  Voltaire  and  the  science  of  D'Alembert,  waa 
long  an  established  article  of  faith  amongst  the  enlightened  in- 
fidels of  England,  Scotland  and  America.  Mathematical  demon- 
stration and  historic  testimony  have  since  combined  to  show  that 
these  eclipses  were  calculated  cliunsili/,  backwards,  for  ages  that 
were  past,  and  cannot  be  dated  so  early  as  the  commencement 
of  the  Christian  era.  Some  French  savans,  attached  to  Napo- 
leon's army,  during  the  expedition  into  Egypt,  discovered  mys- 
terious zodiacs,  at  Denderah  and  Esneh.  Though  unable  to 
decipher  the  hieroglyphics  with  certainty,  one  thing  was  indis- 
putable— that  the  zodiacs  were  constructed  at  the  lowest,  17,000, 
probably  18,000,  years  ago ;  and  the  writer  well  remembers  how 
his  boyish  faith  was  shaken  by  the  bold  assertions  and  contemp- 
tuous sneers  of  the  Edinburgh  Review,  against  all  who  hesitated 
to  receive  their  ocular  utterance,  founded,  as  they  said,  upon 
mathematical  demonstration.  Champollion  and  his  co-laborera 
have  read  the  inscription,  and  find  that  it  belongs  to  the  age  of 
Tiberius  Caesar.  Comparative  anatomy,  meantime,  had  become, 
through  the  genius  of  Cuvier,  an  important  field  of  investigation, 
and  presented  many  striking  examples  of  analogical  resemblance 
between  the  structure  of  man  and  that  of  other  animated  beings. 
Professor  Oken,  descending,  one  day,  the  Hartz  mountains,  be- 
held the  "beautiful  blanched  skull  of  a  hind.  I  picked  it  up — 
regarded  it  intensely,"  says  he — "  the  thing  was  done."  "  Since 
that  time,  the  skull  has  been  regarded  as  a  vertebral  column." 
Rapidly,  over  all  Europe,  and  throughout  all  scientific  circles, 
spread  the  bold  hypothesis  that  the  skull  is  but  a  development  of 
the  spine ;  part  of  that  other  more  comprehensive  theory  of  de- 
velopment which  represents  man — intellectual,  moral,  immortal 
man — as  the  development  of  the  brute — itself  the  development 
of  some  monad,  or  mollusc,  which  has  been  smitten  into  life  by 


AND   NATURAL   SCIENCE.  471 

the  action  of  electricity  upon  a  gelatinous  monad.*  Tliis  ver- 
tebral portion  of  a  brutal  theory,  sprung  from  the  skull  of  a  beast, 
long  since  emptied  of  its  brains,  had  passed,  "  like  a  flood  of 
lightning,"  through  his  disorganized  brai?i ;  and  he,  very  natu- 
rally concluded  that  all  human  intelligence  is  the  result  of  an 

*  It  has  recently  been  a&.serted,  with  great  confidence,  that  "  There  is  no  connec- 
tion between  Oken's  discovery  of  the  hind's  skull  and  the  development  theory.  All 
that  Oken  inferred  from  the  skull  in  now  established  truth." 

Our  only  reply  is  contained  in  the  following  quotations,  which  express  the  views 
of  three  individuals  of  at  least  respectable  acquirements  in  several  departments  of 
Natural  Science :  Sir  David  Brewster,  Agazziz  and  Hugh  Miller. 

"  The  facts  and  reasonings  contained  in  this  chapter,"  says  Brewster,  as  quoted  and 
endorsed  by  Agazziz,  "  will,  we  doubt  not,  shake  to  its  veey  base  the  bold  theory 
OF  Professor  Oken,  which  had  been  so  generally  received  abroad,  and  which  is 
beginning  to  find  supporters,  even  among  the  solid  thinkers  of  our  own  country.  In 
the  Isis  of  1818,  Professor  Lorenz  Oken  has  given  the  following  account  of  the 
hypothesis,  to  which  we  allude.  '  In  August,  1806,'  says  he,  '  I  made  a  journey  over 
the  Hartz.  I  slid  down  througli  the  wood  on  the  south  side,  and  straight  before  me, 
at  my  very  feet,  lay  a  most  beautiful  blanched  skull  of  a  hind.  I  picked  it  up, 
turned  it  round,  regarded  it  intensely,  the  thing  was  done.  It  is  a  vertebral  column, 
struck  me,  like  a  flood  of  lightning,  '  to  the  marrow  and  bone  ;'  and,  since  that  time, 
tlie  skull  has  been  regarded  as  a  vertebral  column.'  This  remarkable  hypothesis 
was  at  Jirsf  received  with  enthusiasm  by  the  naturalists  of  Germany,  and,  among 
others,  by  Agazziz,  who,  from  grounds  not  of  a  geological  kind,  has  more  recently 
ekjected  it.  Whatever  support  this  hypothesis  might  have  expected  from  geology, 
has  been  struck  from  beneath  it  by  this  remarkable  chapter  (4th)  of  Mr.  Miller's* 
work :  and  though  anatomists  may  for  awhile  maintain  it,  under  the  influence  of  so 
high  an  authority  as  Professor  Owen,  we  are  much  mistaken  if  it  ever  forms  a  part 
of  the  creed  of  the  geologist.  Mr.  Miller  has,  indeed,  by  a  most  skilful  examination 
of  the  heads  of  the  earliest  vertebrata,  known  to  geologists,  proved  that  the  hypoth- 
esis derives  no  support  from  the  structure  which  they  exhibit ;  and  Agazziz  has,  even 
upon  general  principles,  rejected  it  as  untenable."  (Memoir  of  Hugh  Miller.  By 
Louis  Agazziz.  Page  29-30,  incorporating  Dr.  Brewster's  Review  in  the  North 
British.)  The  chaptei-  on  "  Footprints,"  to  which  Dr.  Brewster  here  refers,  is  entitled,. 
"  Cerebral  Development  of  the  earlier  vertebrata ;"  and  treats  this  theory  of  Oken 
throughout  as  only  one  form  of  the  more  general  "Development  Hypothesis."  lo' 
deed,  one  can  scarcely  comprehend  how  there  should  be  "  No  connection  between  a 
theory  of  Cerebral  Development  and  the  Development  Theory." 

"According  to  Professor  Oken,"  proceeds  Dr.  Brewster,  "one  of  the  ablest  sup- 
porters of  the  development  theory, '  there  are  two  kinds  of  generation  in  the  world  : 
the  creation  proper,  and  the  generation  that  is  sequent  thereupon ;  or  the  original ' 
and  secondary  generation.  Consequently  no  organism  has  been  created  of  larger  ; 
size  than  an  infusorial  point.  No  organism  is,  or  ever  has  been  created,  which  is  not 
microscopic.  Whatever  is  large  has  not  been  created,  but  developed.  Man  has  not 
been  created,  but  developed.'  Hence,  it  follows  that  during  the  great  geological 
period,  when  race  after  race  was  destroyed,  and  new  forms  of  life  called  into  being, 
'Nature  had  been  pregnant  with  the  human  race;'  and  that  immortal,  intellectual 
man,  is  but  the  development  of  the  brute."  (Memoir,  p.  27.)  Of  this  general 
hypothesis,  Oken's  theory  of  Cerebral  Development  is  but  the  specific  exemplifica- 
tion. "  When  we  find  it  urged  by  at  least  one  eminent  assertor  of  the  Development 
Hypothesis — Professor  Oken — that  light  was  the  main  agent  in  the  development  of 
nerve — that  the  nerves  ranged  in  pairs,  in  turn  developed  the  vertebraj,  each  vertebra, 
being  but '  the  periphery  or  envelope  of  a  pair  of  nerves ;'  and  that  the  nerves  oi 
those  four  senses  of  smell,  sight,  taste  and  hearing,  which,  according  to  the  Professor, 
'make  up  the  head,'  originated  the  four  cranial  vertebrce,  which  constitute  the  skull,  it 
becomes  us  to  test  the  central  idea  (elsewhere  called  '  the  ideal  exemplar'),  thus  con 
verted  into  a  sort  of  historic  myth  by  the  realities  of  actual  history.  What,  then, 
let  us  inquire,  is  the  real  history  of  the  cerebral  development  of  the  vertebrata,  as 
recffrded  in  the  rocks  of  the  earlier  geologic  periods  i"     (Footprints,  p.  64.) 

And  again  (on  page  94),  as  the  result  of  the  whole  discussion.    "But  while  we  find 


472  THE   HARMONY   OF   REVELATION 

electric  spark  passed  through  an  unorganized  gelatinous  monad. 
It  has  been  well  remarked,  b}^  an  able  writer,  that  the  strongest 
argument  in  favor  of  this  theory  is,  that  any  human  being  should 
ever  have  been  found  willing  to  adopt,  much  more  to  assert  with 
eagerness,  this  high  relationship  to  the  ourang-outang  and  ape. 
Congeniality  of  sympathies  may  prove  community  of  origin, 

"  A  fellow  feeling  makes  us  wondrous  kind." 

Hooted  from  the  earth,  the  development  hypothesis  took  refuge 
amidst  the  distant  nebulae  of  the  further  heavens.  Driven  thence 
by  Lord  Rosse's  telescope,  it  returned  again  to  the  earth  ;  and 
the  last  sad  record  of  its  tragic  fate  assures  us  that,  hemmed  and 
jammed  in,  at  last,  between  granite  pyramids  and  huge  masses 
of  old  red  sandstone,  it  was  shivered  to  atoms  by  a  blow  from  the 
stone  hammer  of  a  Caledonian  quarrier :  and,  of  all  its  prodigious 
"  Creations^''  now,  no  "  Vestiges'^  remain. 

It  will  now  be  perceived  how  intimate  is  the  relation  of  these 
general  remarks  to  that  particular  discussion  which  is  our  design, 
hereafter,  to  prosecute.  Christianity  does  not  present  herself  to- 
day before  the  scientific  world  to  seek  its  patronage  or  propitiate 
its  favor.  She  stands  not  before  us  as  a  discredited  witness,  to 
bolster  up  a  doubtful  reputation  ;  but  as  a  witness  whose  evidence 
has  been  tested,  for  eighteen  centuries,  in  a  thousand  ways — that 
has  been  followed,  scrutinized,  confronted  at  ever}"^  point — sub- 
jected to  every  torture  which  power  could  inflict,  or  ingenious 
cross-examination  could  devise  yet  always  vindicated ;  and,  iu 
proportion  to  the  severity  of  that  ordeal  through  which  she  has 
passed,  and  the  multitude  of  the  tests  previously  endured,  is  the 
antecedent  probability  in  her  favor.  She  comes  not  as  a  trem- 
bling culprit,  on  trial  for  her  life  ;  but  as  a  queen,  with  the  long 
train  of  her  attendant  evidences. — prophetical,  historical,  miracu- 
lous— and  the  hosts  of  her  conquered  and  captive  foes,  to  vindi- 
cate her  fair  fame,  establish  her  title  to  the  crown,  and  claim 

place  in  that  geological  history,  in  which  every  character  is  an  organism  for  the 
'  ideal  exemplar'  of  Professor  Owen,  we  find  no  place  in  it  for  the  vertebras-developed 
skull  of  Professor  Oken.  The  true  genealogy  of  the  head  runs  in  an  entirely  differ- 
ent line.  The  nerves  of  the  cerebral  senses  did  not,  we  find,  originate  cerebral  ver- 
tebrae, seeing  that  the  heads  of  the  first  and  second  geologic  periods  had  their  cerebral 
nerves,  but  not  their  cerebral  vertebra? ;  and  that  what  are  regarded  as  cerebral 
vertehraj,  a])pear,  for  the  first  time,  not  in  the  early  fishes,  but  iu  the  reptiles  of  the 
coal  formation.  The  line  of  succession,  through  the  fish,  indicated  by  the  continental 
asserlor  of  the  development  hypothesis,  is  a  line  cut  off."  , 

The  "  Ideal  Exemplar,"  the  Archetypal  Conception  in  the  Divine  Mind,  is  one 
thing,  the  self-developing  power  of  nature  is  totally  different. 


AND  NATURAL  SCIENCE.  473- 

univei-sal  dominion.  The  question  is  not,  then,  at  the  present 
day,  when  any  single  science  is  arrayed  against  Christianity, 
whether,  witli  our  existing  knowledge  of  the  facts  of  this  solitary 
science^  there  be  not  an  equipoise  of  evidence,  or  even  a  prepon- 
derance of  argument,  against  that  view  which  harmonizes  with 
the  Bible  history.  But,  whether  there  be  such  an  overwhelming 
preponderance  in  favor  of  the  opposite  opinion  as  will  neutralize 
that  whole  long"  array  of  cumulative  evidences,  external  and  in- 
ternal, historical,  miraculous,  prophetical,  upon  which  the  cred- 
ibility of  the  gospel  is  established? 

And  here  it  would  be  an  easy,  and,  perhaps,  in  a  purely 
polemical  discussion,  a  legitimate  procedure,  to  plead  to  the  juris- 
diction of  these  sciences — to  deny  their  authority  as  judges— their 
competency  as  witnesses — because  of  their  immature  age  and 
discordant  testimony.  We  might  say  to  these  discordant  sci- 
ences, '"Settle  your  own  disputes;"  to  these  juvenile  sciences, 
"  Tarry  at  Jericho  till  your  beards  be  grown."  We  might  array 
system  against  system,  and  theory  against  theor3^  which  have 
arisen  in  the  geologic  world  in  rapid  and  brilliant  succession,  each 
as  arrogant,  as  impious,  and  as  transient  as  its  predecessors ;  and 
show  that  the  same  changes  are  in  progress  now ;  that,  upon 
many  questions  of  fundamental  importance  in  this  discussion,  the 
ablest  geologists  are  arrayed  against  each  other.  That  each  new 
decade  of  the  last  half-century  has  produced  its  new  facts,  and 
the  corresponding  modification  of  existing  theories,  until  the  same 
writer  is  found,  not  only  in  opposition  to  other,  but,  both  as  to 
facts  and  theory,  in  contradiction  with  himself;  and,  having  thus 
thrown  suspicion  upon  the  science  itself,  conclude  that  the  objec- 
tions which  it  offers  are  to  be  treated  with  indifference,  as  irrele- 
vant or  premature.  But  such  is  not  our  method.  Of  Mosaical 
cosmogonies,  and  Fairholme  geologies,  and  aspects  of  the  uni- 
verse, with  their  pre-Adamic  Adams,  we  know  little.  To  what 
particular  geologic  formation  they  belong,  would  be,  perhaps,  a 
curious  question  to  a  serious  thinker.  Perhaps  they  might  be 
considered  as  examples  and  illustrations  of  that  peculiar  order 
of  "  progressive  degradation,"  which  Hugh  Miller  has  recently 
described,  with  that  keen  wit  of  his,  and  keener  logic— all  whose 
features  are  twisted  awry,  as  by  some  strange  dislocation,  with 
one  great  central  eye,  fixed  intensely  upon  some  ancient  com- 
mentary ;  another  lateral,  and  turned  asquint  towards  geology. 
We  are  willing  to  receive  truth,  from  whatever  quarter.     Amidst 


474  THE   HARMONY   OF   REVELATION 

much  doubtful  and  audacious  speculation,  there  are,  in  geology, 
many  ascertained  and  indubitable  facts.  Amongst  these,  we  are 
ready  to  acknowledge  a  pre-existing  condition  of  our  globe,  as 
evidenced  by  successive  species  of  animated  beings,  wliose  re- 
mains are  found  imbedded  in  successive  strata,  beneath  the  sur- 
face of  the  earth.  And  yet,  even  a  candid  inquirer  may  surely 
ask,  in  a  discussion  such  as  this,  where  many  disputed  questions 
are  connected,  directly  or  remotely,  with  our  subject — Amidst  this 
conflict  of  opinions,  what  shall  I  believe?  You  seek  to  take  my 
feet  from  off  the  rock  of  ages,  and  now,  while  the  ground  shifts 
perpetually  beneath  me,  as  with  the  quiverings  of  an  earthquake, 
or  the  heavings  of  internal  fires,  where  shall  I  stand?  When 
doctors  disagree,  whom  shall  I  follow  ?  Shall  I  follow  Buckland, 
in  his  "  Reliquise  Diluvianae,"  supported  by  Cuvier,  Dc  Luc,  Do- 
lomien,  and  other  distinguished  geologists,  when  he  supposes  that 
he  has  discovered  indubitable  traces  of  the  historic,  Mosaical 
deluge;  or  Buckland,  in  his  "  Bridgewater  Treatise,"' where  he 
seems,  at  least,  to  modify  his  views?  Shall  I  follow  Hugh  Miller, 
when,  in  his  "  Old  Red  Sandstone,"  he  discovers  "  that  the 
ichthyolites  of  the  lower  old  red  sandstone  were  of  comparatively 
small  size,  while  those  of  the  upper  Old  Red  were  of  great  bulk ;" 
that  the  "  system  began  with  an  age  of  dwarfs,  and  ended  with 
an  age  of  giants  ?"  Or  shall  I  follow  him  in  his  "  Foot-Prints," 
where,  at  the  very  base  of  the  system,  he  *'  discovers  one  of  the 
most  colossal  of  its  giants  f^  and  instead  of  an  ascending  order 
of  progressive  development,  asserts  a  descending  order  of  progres- 
sive degradation?  Shall  I  follow  the  "  Catastrophists,"  or  the 
"  Uniformitarians," — those  who  see,  everywhere,  the  evidence  of 
terrible  convulsions,  that  shook  and  rent  the  earth,  and  ages  of 
tempests  that  heaved  the  ancient  ocean  ;  or  those  who  deny  all 
great  catastrophes,  and  assert  the  absolute  uniformity  of  the 
course  of  nature,  through  all  geological  cycles  ?  In  regard  to  the 
change  of  chmate,  apparent  on  our  globe,  shall  I  adopt  the  as- 
tronomic, or  geologic  theory  ?  Concerning  the  origin  of  our  vast 
mountain  ranges,  shall  I  adopt  the  ordinary  theory  of  scientific 
geologists,  of  a  sudden  upheaval  by  some  great  paroxysm  of 
nature?  Or  that  asserted  by  Mr.  Lyell,  of  slow  and  gradual 
elevation,  through  centuries  of  comparative  repose?  In  regard 
to  the  central  heat  of  the  earth,  now  no  longer  disputed,  or  dis- 
putable, shall  1  adopt  the  theory  of  La  Place  and  Herschell,  and 
all  the  bolder  theorists,  concerning  a  great  ocean  of  internal  fire, 


AND  NATURAL  SCIENCE.  475 

not  many  miles  below  the  surface,  and  deepening  in  intensity  as 
you  approach  the  centre?  Or  the  chemical  theory  of  Lyell  and 
Sir  Humphrey  Davy,  which  attributes  all  to  the  combination  and 
decomposition  of  various  elements,  beneath  the  influence  of  some 
great  subterranean  current  of  electricity,  the  earth  itself  being  as 
one  vast  voltaic  pile?  Shall  I  agree  with  those  who  consider 
geology  and  astronomy  as  parts  of  one  great  comprehensive 
science,  each  the  necessary  complement  of  the  other,  and  both 
under  the  guidance  of  wide-extending  cosmical  laws,  which 
operate,  if  not  similarly,  at  least  analogously,  throughout  the 
visible  universe?  Or  shall  I,  with  Mr.  Lyell,  divorce  these  cog- 
nate sciences,  and  build  up  geology  upon  the  basis  of  its  own 
peculiar  and  independent  phenomena?  Or,  lastly,  shall  I  follow 
Mr.  Lyell,  when  he  asserts  the  absolute  uniformity  of  the  course 
of  nature  ; — or  when  he  denies  this  uniform^ity,  and  acknowl- 
edges, in  the  creation  of  man,  the  direct  interposition  of  an  ex- 
traordinary power,  superior  to  all  the  agencies  either  before  or 
since  existing  in  nature,  and  really  divine?  Or,  finally,  shall  I 
follow  him  into  that  logical  catastrophe  into  which  he  plunges, 
through  horror  of  the  physical;  when,  startled  by  the  absurdity 
of  a  uniformity  which  is  not  uniform^  he  seeks  to  lelieve  the 
difficulty  by  asserting,  with  laudable  impartiality,  an  extraor- 
dinary agency  which  is  not  extraordinary  ;  and  then  with  true 
grammatical  precision,  deducing  from  this  double  negative,  a 
single  affirmative — in  attempting  to  reconcile  the  two  annihilates 
both  ? 

But  however  great  the  diversity  of  sentiment  upon  these  and 
other  questions  bearing  directly  and  indirectly  upon  the  Christian 
argument,  on  one  point,  at  least,  all  men  are  agreed  :  there 
is  not  a  geological  theory  extant  which  woidd  not  he  overthrown, 
and  the  whole  science  revolutionized,  by  the  discovery  of  a  single 
new  a?id  extraordinary  fact. 

This  is  not  the  language  of  a  foe,  but  of  its  wisest,  most  judi- 
cious, and  most  competent  defenders.  Witness  the  last  utterance 
from  the  geologic  oracle  (Miller's  "  Foot-Prints,"  page  313) :  "  It 
(geology)  furnishes  us  with  no  clue  by  which  to  unravel  the  un- 
approachable mysteries  of  creation  ;  these  mysteries  belong  to 
the  wondrous  Creator,  and  to  him  only.  We  attempt  to  theorize 
upon  them,  and  to  reduce  them  to  law,  and  all  nature  rises  up 
against  us  in  our  presumptuous  rebellion.  A  stray  splinter  of 
cone-bearing  wood — a  fish's  skull  or  tooth — the  vertebra  of  a  rep- 


476  THE   HARMONY   OF   REVELATION 

tile — the  humerus  of  a  bird — the  jaw  of  a  quadruped — all — any 
of  these  things,  weak  and  insignificant  as  they  may  seem,  be- 
come in  such  a  quarrel,  too  strong  for  us  and  our  theory — the 
puny  fragment  in  the  grasp  of  truth  forms  as  irresistible  a  weapon 
as  the  dry  bone  did  in  that  of  Samson  of  old ;  and  our  slaugh- 
tered sophisms  lie,  piled  up,  '  heaps  upon  heaps,'  before  it,"  Is 
it  possible,  then,  that  such  a  theory,  which  would  thus  be  anni- 
hilated by  a  single  fact,  within  the  limits  of  its  own  appropriate 
domain — which  would  be  brained  by  the  humerus  of  a  sparrow, 
or  the  tooth  of  a  fish — shall  be  allowed  to  exercise  so  despotic  a 
control  beyond  it  as  to  annihilate  the  whole  array  of  evidence  in 
favor  of  the  Bible,  within  us  and  vnthout — to  erase  the  mighty 
footsteps  of  the  gospel,  as  she  has  gone  abroad  over  the  world, 
to  sanctify  and  to  bless — to  hush  the  voice  of  conscience — to 
stifle  the  sense  of  guilt — to  quench  the  hopes  of  immortality? 
Should  such  a  theory  seek  to  contradict  our  consciousness — to 
reverse  the  principles  of  morals — deny  the  great  facts  of  civil  and 
sacred  history,  and  overthrow  the  foundations  of  our  faith — with- 
out the  slightest  hesitation,  we  would  reject  the  theory,  and  hold 
to  the  fact ;  clasp  the  Bible  to  our  hearts,  and  reject  geology  ! 
Such  would  he  our  conclusion,  on  the  broadest  principles  of  the 
inductive  philosophy — which  ever  prefers  the  well-known,  familiar, 
indubitable  fact,  whether  of  outward  observation  or  inward  con- 
sciousness, and  the  direct,  immediate,  intuitive  convictions  of  the 
mind,  before  all  the  plausibilities  of  ingenious  hypothesis,  based 
upon  remote  or  doubtful  or  complicated  facts,  and  subtle  ratioci- 
nations. But  we  do  not  believe  that  the  ascertained  facts  or  re- 
ceived 'principles  of  geology  do  thus  contradict  the  Bible  ;  on  the 
contrary,  we  are  convinced  that  they  have  done  important  service 
to  the  cause  of  theology,  both  natural  and  revealed  ;  and  furnished 
to  each  some  of  its  most  conclusive  arguments  and  sublimest 
illustrations. 

The  first  coincidence  which  we  shall  notice  between  the  teach- 
ings of  geology  and  the  revelations  of  the  Bible,  is  upon  a  vital 
and  fundamental  question  in  the  historical  Evidences  of  Chris- 
tianity — "  The  Possibility  and  Credibility  of  Miracles.''^  Geol- 
ogy HAS  UTTERLY  ANNIHILATED  HuMe's  CELEBRATED  ARGU- 
MENT AGAINST  THE  MIRACLES  OP  THE  BiBLE. 

The  Bible  asserts  the  occasional  interposition  of  divine  and 
supernatural  power  for  moral  purposes  in  the  ordinary  course  of 
physical  events.     This,  infidehty,  in  all  its  forms,  denies  and  de 


AND  NATURAL  SCIENCE.  477 

rides.  The  atheist  denies  the  existence  of  such  a  power,  and  as- 
serts an  infinite  series  of  successive  beings.  The  pantheist  asserts 
a  progressive  development  from  the  lowest  gelatinous  monad  to  the 
highest  animated  existence,  through  the  spontmieous  agency  of 
natural  canses.  The  deist  acknowledges  the  existence  of  this 
power,  but  denies  his  immediate  agency  in  the  universe,  which  he 
has  created. 

To  all  these  geology  replies  by  pointing  to  the  same  great  series 
of  wonderful  discoveries.  To  the  atheist,  she  says — "I  have  fol- 
lowed up  your  'Eternal  Series'  for  six  thousand  years,  and  there 
it  abruptly  terminates."  To  the  pantheist,  she  says,  "I  have  fol- 
lowed up  your  'Ascending  Series  of  Progressive  Development,' 
and  find  it  contradicted  by  all  the  facts.  I  find  a  giant,  where 
you  had  asserted  a  dwarf;  and  in  my  lowest  strata,  examples  of 
a  high  organization."  She  points  to  the  myriad  miracles  re- 
corded indelibly  upon  the  "  everlasting  rocks,"  and  says  to  the  deist : 
"These  are  the  'foot-prints'  of  the  Creator,  whose  existence  you 
admit,  and  whose  direct  agency  you  deny.  Each  new  formation, 
and  each  animated  species,  whose  remains  are  perpetuated  there, 
is  cumulative  evidence  of  the  miracle  which  brought  it  into  being." 
To  all  she  says,  in  the  language  of  her  latest,  and  one  of  her  most 
gifted  advocates :  "  What  say  you  to  the  relics  that  stand  out,  in 
such  bold  relief,  from  the  rocks  beside  us,  in  their  character,  as 
the  results  of  miracle  ?  The  perished  tribes  and  races  which 
they  represent,  all  began  to  exist.  There  is  no  truth  which  sci- 
ence can  more  conclusively  demonstrate  than  that  they  all  had  a 
beginning.  The  infidel,  who,  in  this  late  age  of  the  world,  would 
attempt  falling  back  upon  the  fiction  of  '  An  Infinite  Series,'  would 
be  laughed  to  scorn.  They  all  began  to  be.  But  how?  No 
true  geologist  holds  to  the  '  Development  Hypothesis.'  It  is  re- 
signed to  sciolists  and  smatterers:  and  there  is  but  one  other 
alternative.  They  began  to  be  through  the  miracle  of  crea- 
tion. Through  the  evidence  furnished  by  these  rocks,  we  are 
shut  down  to  the  belief  in  miracle.  Hume  is  at  length  answered  by 
the  severe  truths  of  the  stony  science."  ("  Foot-Prijits,^^  by  Hugh 
Miller,  p.  301,  302.)  Such  is  the  language  of  one  who  is  rapidly 
assuming  the  first  position  amongst  contemporary  geologists  ;  and 
for  whom  Brewster,  and  Buckland,  and  Lyell,  and  Murchison, 
and  Agazziz,  have  all  expressed  the  profoundest  admiration. 
Such  is,  without  exception,  the  language  of  scientific  geologists  in 
our  day. 


478  THE  HARMONY  OF  REVELATION 

This  theory  of  Hume  was  revived  during  the  year  1815  in  the 
Edinburgh  Review,  the  same  journal  which  had  patronized  the 
dreams  of  Bailly,  long  after  the  wit  of  Voltaire  and  the  science 
of  D'Alembert  had  hooted  them  from  France,  and  had  deduced 
such  prodigious  conclusions  from  the  zodiacs  of  Denderah  and 
Ezneh.  But  scarce  three  years  had  passed  away  before  the  prog- 
ress of  geological  science  forced  that  infallible  dictator  in  litera- 
ture and  science  openly  to  retract  and  refute  its  oivn  superficial 
infidelity.  Our  limits  will  authorize  a  brief  extract  only  from  the 
Edinburgh  Review  (No.  104).  "  The  recent  discoveries  in  geol- 
ogy lead  IRRESISTIBLY  to  another  observation.  It  is  one  of  still 
greater  importance ;  for  it  seems  to  us  to  be  fatal  to  the  the- 
ory (Hume's)  which  we  have  presumed  to  call  a  misconception 
of  the  uniformity  of  causation,  as  signifying  an  unalterable  se- 
quence of  causes  and  effects.  Those  who  have  read  neither 
Cuvier  nor  Lyell,  are  yet  aware  that  the  human  race  did  not 
exist  from  all  eternity.  Certain  strata  have  been  identified  with 
the  period  of  man's  first  appearance.  We  cannot  do  better  than 
quote  from  Dr.  Pritchard's  excellent  book  (Natural  History  of 
Man),  his  comment,  and  application  of  this  fact.  'Mankind  had 
a  beginning;  since  we  can  look  back  to  the  period  when  the  sur- 
face on  which  they  live  began  to  exist.  We  have  only  to  go  back 
in  imagination  to  that  age  to  represent  to  ourselves  that,  at  a 
certain  time,  there  existed  nothing  on  this  globe  but  unformed 
elements;  and  that,  in  the  next  period,  there  had  begun  to  move, 
and  breathe  in  a  particular  spot,  a  human  creature ;  and  we  shall 
already  have  admitted,  perhaps,  the  most  astonishing  miracle 
recorded  in  the  whole  compass  of  the  sacred  writings.'  No 
greater  changes,"  continues  the  reviewer,  "can  be  well  imagined, 
in  the  ordinary  sequence  of  cause  and  eflfeci,  such  as  constituted 
the  laws  of  nature  as  they  had  been  previously  established,  than 
took  place  on  the  day  when  man  was,  for  the  first  time,  seen 
amongst  the  creatures  of  the  earth." 

Even  Mr.  Lyell,  whose  fundamental  tenet  is,  "  The  absolute 
uniformity  of  the  course  of  nature,  through  all  geologic  epochs," 
— the  continued  agency  of  the  same  causes,  "  the  same  both  in 
kind  and  degree^''  in  "  the  organic  and  inorganic  world," — recoils 
from  the  legitimate  results  of  his  own  favorite  principle,  when  he 
comes  to  man  ; — and  acknowledges  here,  "  a  real  departure  from 
the  antecedent  course  of  physical  events  ;"  "  an  anomalous  devia- 
tion from  the  previously  established  order  of  things ;"  "  a  peculiar 


AND   NATURAL   SCIENCE.  479 

and  unprecedented  agency,  long  after  other  parts  of  the  animate 
and  inanimate  world  existed  ;  which  affords  ground  for  concluding 

that  THE  EXPERIENCE,  DURING  THOUSANDS  OF  AGES,  OF  ALL 
THE    EVENTS    WHICH    MAY    HAPPEN  ON  THIS  GLOBE,  WOUld   nOt 

enable  a  philosopher  to  speculate,  with  confidence,  concerning 
future  contingencies."  This  "anomalous  deviation  from  the  es- 
tablished order  of  things,"  he  attributes,  on  the  next  page,  to  a 
'■'moral  source''' — "?iew  relations  between  the  material  aiid  moral 
worlds'''' — "  circumstances  not  of  a  physical,  but  a  moral  nature." 
(See  »  Principles  of  Geology^'  p.  257-260.) 

Here,  then,  we  have  the  triumph  of  Christianity — complete — 
decisive — final — irreversible  ;  and  on  the  field  selected  by  her  ad- 
versaries. The  whole  vast  array  of  Christian  Evidences,  histori- 
cal, prophetical,  miraculous,  remains  untouched ;  with  nothing  to 
resist  their  combined  and  overwhelming  power.  And  we  might 
leave  the  subject  here.  The  centre  is  broken  ;  the  rest  is  an 
affair  of  the  wings;  the  skirmishing  of  outposts,  when  the  citadel 
has  been  carried  ;  the  pattering  of  small  arms,  when  the  strong 
battery  has  been  silenced,  and  the  heavy  artillery  spiked. 

And  it  might  serve  periiaps  to  quiet  the  anxious  fears  of  timid 
Christians,  trembling  for  their  faith,  to  know  that  all  this  has 
been  conclusively  accomplished  through  the  discoveries  of  ge- 
ology. 

Nor  ought  we  to  omit  in  this  rapid  sketch  all  notice  of  another 
stronghold  of  infidelity,  where  she  took  refuge  long  amidst  the 
mists  and  obscurity  of  distant  ages  ;  and  from  which  she  has  been 
irrecoverably  driven  by  the  discoveries  of  geology.  1  allude  to 
the  supposed  inaccuracy  of  the  Bible  in  regard  to — 

2d.  The  recent  origin  of  man.  All  ancient  history,  except  the 
Bible,  terminates,  as  you  trace  it  upwards,  in  an  age  of  fabulous 
mythology,  where  all  looms  large  in  the  distance,  all  is  exaggera- 
tion, and  all  is  prodigy.  Years  are  exaggerated  into  centuries ; 
centuries  into  thousands  of  years,  or  incalculable  ages  ;  warrior 
chieftains  expand  into  heroes,  heroes  into  demi-gods,  and  demi- 
'gods,  at  last,  are  converted  into  gods.  Thus,  excited  imagination 
and  national  vanity  have  combined,  in  all  ancient  chronicles,  to 
multiply  the  numbers  and  extend  the  duration  of  successive  dy- 
nasties, and  give  to  the  founders  of  various  nations  an  indefinite 
antiquity,  which  is  lost  in  the  dimness  of  the  past,  and  allies  them 
in  lineage,  and  in  the  era  of  their  existence,  with  the  immortal 
gods  iliemselves.     The  Bible  alone,  with  the  calm  sobriety  and 


480  THE   HARMONY   OF  REVELATION 

dignity  of  truth,  comes  forward  with  its  simple  narrative  of  men 
and  of  events,  without  apology  and  without  exaggeration,  giving 
minutely  names  and  dates,  the  period  of  the  birth  and  death  of 
successive  individuals;  and  as  the  result  of  the  most  accurate 
examination  of  her  records,  it  appears  that  the  existence  of  man 
upon  the  earth  cannot  extend  much  beyond  a  period  of  six  thou- 
sand yeaVs.  At  this  all  infidelity  stands  aghast,  and  contemptu- 
ously exclaims,  "The  Bible  is  contradicted  by  all  human  records, 
by  astronomical  calculations,  by  zodiacs,  still  remaining ;  by  that 
strong  conviction  of  the  human  bosom,  which  leads  all  men, 
spontaneously,  to  attribute  an  indefinitely  long  duration  to  the  pres- 
ent condition  of  the  world."  We  have  already  shown  how^  math- 
ematical and  astronomical  science  had  combined  to  refute  one 
part  of  this  objection  ;  and  how  an  improved  knowledge  of  hiero- 
glyphics had  swept  away  another.  But  to  all  of  them  geology 
has  offered  a  direct  and  decisive  contradiction,  and  a  confirmation 
as  decisive  of  the  sacred  record. 

"I  need  not  dwell,"  says  Mr.  Lyell,  '-on  the  proofs  of  the  low 
antiquity  of  our  species ;  for  it  is  not  controverted  by  any  experi- 
enced geologist ;  indeed  the  real  difficulty  consists  in  tracing  back 
the  signs  of  man's  existence  upon  earth— to  that  comparatively 
recent  period,  when  species  now  his  contemporaries  began  greatly 
to  predominate."  "  From  the  concurrent  testimony  of  history 
and  tradition  we  learn  that  portions  of  Europe,  now  the  most 
fertile,  and  most  completely  subjected  to  the  dominion  of  man, 
were  less  than  three  thousand  years  ago,  covered  with  forests, 
and  the  abode  of  wild  beasts.  The  archives  of  nature  are  in 
perfect  accordance  with  historical  records."  [Principles  of  Geol- 
Qo-p,  p.  249,  250.)  Cuvier,  having  reached  the  same  conclusion  by 
a  minute  and  careful  examination  of  a  vast  variety  of  geological 
facts  enumerated  in  his  "Essays  on  the  Theory  of  the  Earth," 
remarks:  "This  result  is  one  of  jthe  best  established,  and  least 
attended  to,  in  rational  zoology ;  and  it  is  so  much  the  more  val- 
uable, as  it  connects  natural  and  civil  history  together  in  one  ud^ 
interrupted  series."  Thus  fades  into  dim  oblivion — never  to  reap- 
pear— this  once  celebrated  objection  of  a  philosophic  infidelity. 

It  is  a  remarkable  fact,  that  wherever  the  assaults  of  infidelity 
have  been  most  confident  and  most  contemptuous,  with  the 
loudest  flourish  of  trumpets,  and  the  boldest  tones  of  defiance, 
there  the  progress  of  scientific  inquiry  has  most  completely  un- 
masked her  pretensions,  and  confirmed  the  credibility  of  the  sacred 


AND   NATURAL   SCIENCE.        '  481 

Scriptures.     Especially  is  this  true  in  regard  to  that   permanent 
topic  of  infidel  derision, 

"the  final  conflagration." 

Whatever  may  be  our  theory  of  the  earth's  "Internal  Heat,' 
whether  we  believe  in  a  great  ocean  of  central  fire,  increasing,  as 
we  descend,  to  an  intensity  of  heat  far  surpassing  that  of  melted 
iron,  with  Sir  W.  Herschell,  and  all  the  bolder  theorists ;  or  at- 
tribute all  the  phenomena,  with  Lyell  and  Sir  Humphrey  Davy, 
to  the  influence  of  chemical  agencies — to  the  combination  and 
decomposition  of  various  elements,  beneath  the  constant  play  of 
subterranean  currents  of  electricity,  the  earth  being  as  one  vast 
voltaic  pile ;  whetlier  we  consider  geology  and  astronomy  as 
complemental  parts  of  one  great,  comprehensive  science,  founded 
upon  wide  cosmical  relations;  and  observe  the  numerous  analo- 
gies between  our  own  sun,  and  planet,  and  the  other  central  suns 
and  planetary  worlds  around  us,  with  the  modern  followers  of 
La  Place  and  Herschell;  or  with  Mr.  Lyell,  divorce  these  cognate 
sciences,  and  eschewing  these  wider  analogies,  build  up  geology 
upon  the  basis  of  its  own  independent  and  separate  phenomena; 
on  any  theory,  and  loith  any  process  of  investigation,  the  facts 
remain  the  same  ;  and  the  conclusion,  not  the  result  of  doubtful 
disputation,  but  of  scientific,  and  almost  irresistible  deduction,  is 
openly  proclaimed  by  every  competent  authority,  and  Mr.  Lyell 
with  the  rest:  that  the  termitiation  of  our  present  system  by  a 
terrific  covfiagration,  is  aii  extremely  probable,  according  to  Mr. 
Lyell,  AN  INEVITABLE  CATASTROPHE.  The  facts  on  which  this 
conclusion  has  been  based,  are  so  numerous,  so  various  in  their 
character,  and  derived  from  quarters  so  different  and  remote,  that 
it  would  be  impossible  to  enumerate  them  all  within  the  limits 
assigned  to  this  whole  discussion.  They  are  derived  from  mines, 
from  artesian  wells ;  from  earthquakes  and  volcanoes ;  from  hot 
springs,  from  the  elevation  of  mountain  ranges,  the  overflow  of 
igneous  rocks,  covering  vast  regions  of  the  earth  ;  and  taking  a 
wider  range,  look  to  the  condition  of  other  worlds,  to  the  moon, 
the  sun,  the  planetary  globes,  the  comets,  and  the  fixed  stars. 

We  must  confine  ourselves  to  the  statement  of  results  generally 
admitted. 

"  The  observation  made  by  Arago  in  1821   that  the  deepest 
artesian  wells  are  tlce  warm.est,  threw  great  light."  says  Humboldt^ 

31 


482  THE   HARMONY   OF   REVELATION 

"on  the  origin  of  Thermal  springs;  and  07i  the  estahUshment  of 
the  latv,  that  terrestrial  heat  increases  with  increasing  depths 
A  vast  variety  of  experiments  have  since  been  made  with  the 
greatest  precision  by  distinguished  philosophers  in  the  mines  of 
various  regions  of  the  globe — in  France,  England,  Switzerland, 
Peru,  Saxony,  and  Mexico,  and  with  the  same  general  result. 
The  average  ratio  of  increase  as  you  descend  from  the  surface  to 
the  centre,  is  (over  all  measured  distances)  about  1°  Fahrenheit 
to  44  or  54  feet.  "  If  this  increase  can  be  reduced  to  arithmetical 
relations,  it  will  follow,  that  a  stratum  of  granite  would  be  in  a 
state  of  fusion  at  a  depth  of  nearly  twenty-one  geographical  miles, 
or  between  four  and  five  times  the  elevation  of  the  Himalaya 
Mountains,  and  the  water  from  the  hot  springs  between  Porto 
Cabello  and  Nueva  Valencia,  at  205-5°  of  temperature,  would 
issue  from  a  source  7140  feet,  or  above  two  miles  in  depth." 
[Cos.  vol.  i.  174-221.  See  Lyell,  v.  ii.  433,  434.)  This  calcula- 
tion proceeds  on  the  supposition  of  a  progressive  increase  of  heat 
in  the  unobserved  depths  of  the  earth,  a  theory  adopted  by  the 
great  majority  of  modern  philosophers. 

But  this  internal  heat,  from  whatever  source  derived, 
reaches  to  vast  and  unfathomable  depths,  and  is  of  universal  ex- 
tent, far  beneath  the  outer  surface  of  our  globe.  To  this,  how- 
ever GENERATED,  are  attributed  all  the  great  changes  in  the 
condition  of  the  earth ;  those  huge  mountain  ranges,  the  Alps, 
the  Appenines,  the  Pyrenees,  the  Himalaya,  the  Ural,  the  Alle- 
ghany, and  the  Andes ;  those  Thermal  springs  of  unvarying 
temperature,  which  burst  from  the  ground,  in  every  climate,  and  on 
every  continent ;  those  igneous  rocks,  once  in  a  state  of  manifest 
fusion,  which  underlie  all  our  more  superficial  strata,  and  burst 
upward  from  the  depths  below,  deluging  whole  regions  many 
hundred  thousand  square  miles  in  extent,  till  the  earth  is  covered 
"many  hundred  feet  in  depth"  beneath  the  fiery  inundation,  and 
its  whole  "surface  roughened,  and  mottled  by  these  Plutonic 
masses,  as  thickly  as  the  skin  of  the  leopard  by  its  spots." 
[Foot-Prints,  p.  312.) 

The  magnificent  extent  and  terrific  energy  of  this  internal 
power — if  not  infinite — at  any  rate  absolutely  immeasurable  and 
irresistible — is  manifested  in  those  mountain  ranges  of  4000  miles 
in  extent  (as  the  Andes),  where  a  solitary  giant,  Cotopaxi,  lifts 
his  head  19,000  feet  above  the  level  of  the  ocean  ;  the  flames  from 
his  crater  rising  full  half  a  mile  above  his  summit,  and   the 


AND  NATURAL  SCIENCE.  483 

scoria,  and  huge  rocks  thrown  out  by  his  explosions,  and  scattered 
over  many  leagues  around,  "  would  form,  were  they  heape;d 
TOGETHER,  A  COLOSSAL  MOUNTAIN."  [Humholdfs  JResearxkes, 
i.  115-125.)  It  will  assist  us  to  form  some  approximate  concep- 
tion of  the  illimitable  energy  employed  in  these  stupendous  up- 
heavals ;  to  contemplate  a  slight  elevation  over  a  comparatively 
limited  area,  which  has  been  reduced  by  Mr.  Lyell  within  the 
compass  of  human  calculation.  In  the  year  1822,  an  extent  of 
country  in  Chili  equal,  perhaps,  to  one  hundred  thousand  square 
miles,  was  elevated  by  a  single  earthquake  three  feet  [not  l'.*,000) 
on  an  average,  and  Mr.  Lyell  gives  us  in  the  following  words  the 
result  of  his  calculations  :  "  The  whole  thickness  of  rock  between 
the  subterranean  foci  of  volcanic  action  and  the  surface  of  Chili 
MAY  BE  MANY  MILES  OR  LEAGUES  DEEP.  Say  that  the  thick- 
iiess  was  o?il//  two  miles,  even  then  the  mass  which  changed 
place  and  rose  three  feet,  being  200,000  cubic  miles  in  volume, 
must  have  exceeded  in  loeight  363  million  pyramids."  (Vol. 
ii.  305,  306.)  He  adds  immediately,  "  It  would  require  seventeen 
centuries  and  a  half  before  the  river  Ganges  could  bear  down  from 
the  continent  into  the  sea.  a  mass  equal  to  that  gained  by  the 
Chilian  earthquake."  A  pyramid  presents  some  definite  object  to 
our  conception.  Three  hundred  and  sixty-three  millions  are  but 
one  million  daily  for  a  year.  When,  however,  we  begin  to  calcu- 
late the  mass  thrown  out  in  only  two  of  those  overflows  of  igne- 
ous traps — those,  namely,  in  Hindostan  and  Southern  Africa, 
covering  an  area,  double  in  extent,  and  on  an  average,  200  feet 
in  thickness; — -our  pyramids  are  multiplied  by  145,200,000,000 — 
and  arithmetical  numbers  become  the  vague  symbols  of  a  power 
which  transcends  imagination.  But  when  we  attempt  to  calculate 
the  amount  of  force  necessary  to  heave  up  those  mountain  masses, 
varying  from  3000  to  25,000  feet  in  height,  and  stretching  over  sev- 
eral thousand  miles  in  extent ;  when  we  seek  to  pile  Vesuvius  upon 
Etna,  and  Etna  upon  Atlas,  and  Atlas  upon  Cotopaxi,  and  this 
upon  Chimborazo,  and  Chimborazo  on  the  loftiest  of  the  Hima- 
laya, we  are  lost  amidst  magnitudes  which  arithmetic  indeed 
might  calculate,  and  language  might  imperfectly  express,  but  the 
human  mind  is  totally  unable  to  comprehend. 

What  shall  we  say  of  those  earthquakes  which  not  merely 
shake  the  largest  mountains  to  their  base,  and  engulf  whole  cities 
with  their  myriad  inhabitants,  but  rock  the  solid  globe  from  conti- 
nent to  continent,  and  heave  the  deep  ocean  from  its  bed  ;  as  that 


484  THE   HAJtlMONY   OF   REVELATION 

of  Lisbon  in  1755,  which  was  felt  from  Lapland  to  Martinique  in 
the  West  Indies,  and  from  Greenland  across  the  continent  to  Af- 
rica ;  while  the  sea  rose  from  fifteen  to  sixty  feet  on  different 
coasts,  and  the  land  rose  and  fell  in  rapid  undulations,  as  if  tossed 
by  the  billows  of  an  agitated  ocean.  {Lyell.  vol.  ii.  p.  266-268.) 
In  the  second  volume  of  the  "Principles,"  commencing  with 
the  254th  page,  we  have  the  record  of  a  terrific  eruption  of  lava 
from  Skaptar  Jokul,  one  of  the  volcanoes  of  Iceland.  We  have 
not  room  for  the  starthng  details,  and  can  give  only  the  general 
results.  The  lava  rushed  from  the  volcano  in  two  different 
streams,  and  in  opposite  directions,  varying  in  width  from  one  mile 
to  fifteen,  and  in  depth  from  100  feet  to  600,  as  it  chanced  to  flow 
between  the  high  rocky  banks  of  the  Skaptar  river,  or  meeting 
with  obstacles  in  its  course,  expanded  over  wide  alluvial  plains, 
and  formed  broad  burning  lakes,  fifteen  miles  in  breadth,  and  100 
feet  in  depth.  The  length  of  the  stream  was  in  one  direction 
forty  miles,  in  the  other  fifty.  It  has  been  calculated  that  this 
mass  of  lava  would  have  covered  an  area  of  1800  square  miles 
to  the  depth  of  150  feet,  or  6000  square  miles  to  a  depth  of  near 
forty  feet,  producing,  of  course,  a  corresponding  vacancy  beneath 
the  surface.  Two  thousand  of  these  eruptions  occur,  as  Mr.  L. 
supposes,  during  each  century;  and  in  view  of  these  and  other 
equally  important  facts,  he  announces  the  deliberate  conviction, 
that  "  vacuities  must  also  arise  from  the  subtraction  of  (he  matter 
poured  out  by  volcanoes,  and  from  the  contraction  of  argillaceous 
masses  by  subterranean  heat ;  and  the  foundations  having  been 
thus  weakened^  the  earth's  crust  shaken  and  rent  by  re- 
iterated CONVULSIONS,  MUST,  IN  THE  COURSE  OF  TIME,  FALL 
IN."       (P.  478.) 

Indeed,  if  that  theory  be  true  which  was  propounded  by  Sir 
Humphrey  Davy,  and  adopted  by  Mr.  Lyell,  that  the  earth  is  a 
great  "  voltaic  pile,"  carrying  on  a  perpetual  process  of  combina- 
tion and  decomposition,  and  thus  feeding  perpetually  its  own  in- 
ward fires  ;  and  if,  as  he  asserts,  the  water  of  the  sea  resolved  into 
its  component  elements,  oxygen  and  hydrogen  (p.  454-456),  and 
even  the  atmospheric  air  (p.  460)  rushing  in  upon  these  volcanic 
foci,  be  the  principal  sources  of  their  tremendous  energy,  thfen, 
when  that  great  predicted  day  of  conflagration  shall  arrive,  and 
air,  and  earth,  and  sea  shall  be  on  fire,  the  sublime  and  terrible 
catastrophe  will  be  but  the  result  of  laws  and  agencies  intensified 
and  variously  combined,  which  are  now  in  operation  all  around 


AND  NATURAL  SCIENCE.  485 

us;  "the  earth's  ciust  shattered  and  rent  by  reiterated  concus- 
sions, falMng  in  ;"  the  atmospheric  air,  and  the  waters  of  the  agi- 
tated ocean,  rushing  into  the  yawning  chasm,  and  feeding  the 
fury  of  the  flames,  which  they  are  unable  to  extinguish  ;  and  well 
may  Mr.  Lyell  exclaim  (vol.  ii.  451),  quoting  the  words,  and  shar- 
ing the  wonder  of  Pliny,  "  It  is  the  greatest  of  all  miracles,  that 
a  single  day  should  pass  without  an  universal  conflagra- 
tion."* 

Such  are  the  conclusions  which  we  are  forced  to  draw,  when 
we  confine  our  attention  to  phenomena,  visible  upon,  and  be- 
neath the  surface  of  our  globe.  But  there  is,  in  our  day,  a  bolder 
and  more  comprehensive  philosophy ;  which  considers  geology 
and  astronomy  as  branches  of  one  great  science ;  and  our  earth, 
not  as  an  isolated  world,  but  as  the  member  of  a  vast  family  of 
worlds,  bound  together  by  one  common  relationship,  and  under 
the  control,  at  every  stage  of  their  onward  development,  of  great 
cosmical  laws  ;  and  when  we  come  thus  to  connect  the  phenomena 
of  this,  our  globe,  with  the  mysterious  changes  going  on,  even 
now,  in  the  universe  above  us,  and  the  evidence  of  past  revolu- 
tions which  the  telescope  affords,  our  astonishment,  which  we 
had  shared  before,  with  Pliny,  is  converted  into  a  loftier  and 
holier  emotion  ;  of  awed  sublimity  and  devout  and  reverential 
adoration.  In  the  sun,  in  the  moon,  in  the  planets,  in  the  comets, 
and  in  the  distant  stars,  are  evidences,  manifold  and  more  clear, 
in  proportion  as  we  can  better  examine  them,  of  mysterious  and 
portentous  changes,  springing  in  all  human  probability  (as  their 
ordinary  phenomena  indisputably  do)  from  the  same  inscrutable 
forces  which  have  produced  similar  revolutions  on  our  earth. 
The  sublimest  portion  of  our  modern  astronomy  is  that  which  is 
devoted  to  the  study  and  elucidation  of  these  extraordinary 
phenomena.  Here  too,  it  may  be  said,  as  was  said  before,  that 
whatever  may  be  the  theory,  the  facts  and  the  legitimate  conclu- 
sion, are  the  same. 

*  The  words  of  Mr.  Lyell  are  so  remarkable,  and  so  distinctly  to  our  purpose 
that  the  reader  will  be  pleased  to  find  them  in  the  following  quotation.     {Principles 
of  Geology,  vol.  ii.  p.  45l.)     "When  we  consider  the  combustible  nature  of  the  ele- 
ments of  the  earth,  so  far  as  they  are  known  to  us ;  the  facility  with  which  their  com- 
pounds may  be  decomposed  and  enter  into  new  combinations ;  the  quantity  of  heat 
'  which  they  evolve  during  these  processes :  when  we  recollect  the  expansive  power 
I  of  steam,  and  that  water  itself  is  composed  of  two  gases  which,  by  their  union, 
...produce  intense  heat ;  when  we  call  to  mind  the  number  of  explosive  and  detonating 
compounds,  which  have  been  already  discovered ;  we  may  be  allowed  to  share  the 
i  Astonishment  of  Pliny,  that  a  single  day  should  pass  without  a  general  conflagration : 
■ '  Excedit  profecto,  omnia  miracula,  ullum  diem  fuisse,  quo  non  cuncta  conflagrwe^t.* 
— Hist.  Mundl,  Lib.  ii.  c.  107." 


"4%  • 

486  THE  HARMONY   OF  REVELATION 

The  moon,  which,  from  its  near  vicinity,  is  best  known  of  all 
the  heavenly  bodies,  has  been  daguerreotyped  ;  and  the  relation 
of  its  various  regions,  perhaps,  more  distinctly  apprehended  than 
that  of  the  several  portions  of  our  own  larger  world.  It  is — on 
the  only  side  exposed  to  human  observation — an  extinct  volcano ; 
with  its  giant  mountains,  its  abrupt  precipices,  its  deep  and  cav- 
ernous abysses  ;  a  world,  in  preparation,  probably,  to  be  inhabited. 
("  Outlines;'  p.  151.) 

In  those  dark  spots  upon  the  disk  of  our  sun,  whose  diameter 
is  sometimes  equal  to  six  diameters  of  the  earth,  and  whose 
enormous  extent  must  be  measured  in  square  miles,  by  millions, 
astronomers  believe  that  we  see  the  dark  body  of  the  sun  laid 
bare  through  openings  in  the  bright  clouds  that  environ  and 
illuminate  it ;  and  that  this  agitation  in  its  luminous  strata,  is 
occasioned  by  some  mysterious  energy,  analogous  at  least,  if  not 
similar,  to  that  whose  agency  has  been  observed  in  the  moon  and 
upon  the  earth.  ^^  HerschelVs  Outlines^'  p.  225-30.  ''^  Plane' 
tary  System,;'  320-37.     ''NichoVs  Solar  System,;'  p.  120-32. 

Prodigious  revolutions  in  the  luminous  atmospheres  of  the 
sun  are  no  longer  matter  of  visionary  speculation,  but,  says  one 
of  our  most  eminent  contemporary  astronomers,  "  an  absolute 
fact:' 

The  present  century  has  witnessed  the  successive  discoveries 
of  several  extraordinary  bodies,  and  under  circumstances  as  ex- 
traordinary as  the  bodies  thus  discovered.  As  in  the  case  of  the 
planet  Neptune,  so  in  that  of  the  "Asteroids."  The  search  and 
the  discovery  were  preceded  and  directed  by  the  hypothetical  as- 
sumption, based  upon  broad  and  bold  analogies.  As  in  the  case 
of  Neptune,  the  distance  had  been  previously  calculated,  the 
quarter  of  the  heavens  pointed  out,  the  telescope  directed  to  the 
spot — the  star  discovered.  That  there  is  some  law,  in  regard 
to  the  inter-planetary  distances,  as  in  every  other  department  of 
creation,  could  hardly  be  doubted  by  any  devout  or  any  philo- 
sophic mind.  Now  it  was  long  since  discovered  that  this  law  was 
apparently  suspended,  and  the  harmony  of  the  universe  inter- 
rupted in  the  amazing  interval  between  the  orbits  of  Mars  and 
Jupiter.  More  than  two  hundred  years  ago,  with  that  strong 
faith  in  the  analogies  of  nature  which  characterizes  all  real 
genius,  and  when  wisely  directed,  leads  to  all  philosophical  dis- 
covery, Old  Kepler  had  predicted  the  future  discovery  of  a  planet, 
in  this  apparently  unoccupied  space.     Long  derided  as  the  daring 


AND  NATURAL   SCIENCE.  487 

speculation  of  a  great,  but  visionary  mind,  the  discovery  of 
Uranus,  by  re-establishing  the  interrupted  harmony,  directed  the 
mirfds  of  astronomers  to  the  old  prediction  of  Kepler,  and  to  the 
search  after  the  undiscovered  world.  Three  years  had  scarcely 
passed  after  the  discovery  of  Uranus,  when  in  1784,  the  Baron 
De  Zach  computed  the  distance  and  the  period  of  the  now  gen- 
erally suspected  planet.  In  1800,  a  congress  of  astronomers  met, 
and  gravely  discussed,  and  ultimately  adopted  the  apparently 
chimerical  enterprise  of  discovering  a  world,  whose  existence  was 
announced  by  faith  alone  in  the  harmonies  of  nature.  On  the 
first  day  of  January,  1801,  the  telescope,  directed  to  the  appointed 
spot,  discovered  the  star,  and  justified  the  calculation,  both  as  to 
distance,  and  actual  period.  But  as  to  magnitude.  Ceres — the 
newly-discovered  star — was  163  miles,  at  most  1000,  in  diameter. 
Soon,  another  was  discovered.  Then  came  the  boldest  hypoth- 
esis ;  and  based  upon  it,  the  boldest  prediction  recorded  in  the 
annals  of  human  science.  Olbers  suggested  the  opinion,  that 
these  diminutive  asteroids  were  fragments  of  a  larger  world,  long 
since  exploded ;  and  predicted  the  discovery  of  many  other  frag- 
ments, in  a  particular  portion  of  the  heavens — at  the  point  of 
mutual  intersection  of  their  orbits.  The  very  suggestion  of  such 
an  hypothesis,  and  its  wide  acceptance  by  philosophers,  would  be 
suflficient  for  our  argument.  It  involves  a  fact  and  a  supposition. 
The  fact  is  the  existence  of  actual  forces  in  our  earth,  analogous 
to  those  required  by  the  hypothesis,  in  the  exploded  planet. 
The  supposition  relates  to  the  existence  of  similar  forces  in  other 
worlds.  Without  the  reality  here,  the  supposition  there  would 
BE  INCREDIBLY  ABSURD.  But  the  tcst  of  an  hypothesis  is  its 
conformity  to  the  facts.  Telescope  after  telescope  was  directed 
to  the  spot  which  the  hypothesis  indicated.  Asteroid  after 
asteroid  twinkled  visibly  in  the  vault  of  heaven,  until  fourteen, 
with  constantly  recurring  new  additions,  were  discovered.  "The 
theory  of  Olbers,"  writes  Prof.  Mitchell,  in  1848  [two  years  after 
the  discovery  of  Iris),  "  receives  new  accessions  of  strength  from 
the  discovery  of  every  new  asteroid."  Six  have  been  added 
SINCE.  "  The  lame-theory,"  says  Prof.  Loomis,  "  would  lead  us 
to  anticipate  the  discovery  of  numerous  other  fragments  ;"  and 
adds  in  a  P.  S.,  "Since  the  preceding  was  in  type,  it  has  been 
announced  that  a  new  asteroid  was  discovered,  May  11th,  at 
the  Naples  Observatory."  "Whatever  may  be  thought  of  such  a 
speculation  as  a  physical  hypothesis,"  writes  Sir  J.  Herschell,  in 


488  THE   HARMONY   OF  REVELATION 

1849,  "  this  conclusion  has  been  verified  to  a  considerable  extent, 
AS  A  MATTER  OF  FACT,  by  Subsequent  discovery — the  result  of 
careful  and  minute  examination  undertaken  with  that  express 
object."*  As  to  the  supposed  impossibility,  or  incredib'ility  of 
such  an  event,  the  following  language  of  Prof.  Loomis  of  Nevr 
York,  may  be  considered  as  expressing  the  general  views  of  the 
scientific  world.  "No  doubt,  then,"  speaking  of  the  division  of 
Biela's  comet  into  two  distinct  parts,  "  no  doubt,  then,  Biela  has 
been  separated  into  two  parts.  When,  and  how  ?  Was  it  caused 
by  an  explosion  arising  from  some  internal  force?  Forces  of  this 
kind  we  see  in  operatio7i  in  our  own  globe,  ejecting  liquid 
mountains  from  the  bowels  of  the  earth.  The  surface  of  our 
moon  bears  marks  of  similar  agency.  The  sun  appears  agitated 
by  powerful  forces,  perhaps  the  expansion  of  gaseous  substances; 
and  it  has  been  conjectured  that  a  planet  was  once  split  into 
numerous  fragments.     If  we  knew  that  Biela's  comet  w^as  a  solid 

body,  WE  MIGHT  EASILY  SUPPOSE  IT  TO  HAVE  BEEN  DIVIDED 
BY  SOME  FORCE  SIMILAR  TO  VOLCANIC  AGENCY."       "  Histori/  of 

Astronomy,^''  p.  105  -6.t  .  ,. 

*  See  "  Edinburgh  Encyclopedia."  An  article  by  Sir  David  Brewster,  "  As- 
tronomy," chap.  i.  sec.  X.  "PJaii.  and  Stellar  Worlds,"  Lecture  Tth.  ''Outlines," 
p.  297 — Prof.  Alexander,  "  Asteroids  and  Comets."  Astron.  Journal,  No.  23.  Di;. 
B.  A.  Gould,  in  Silliman's  Journal,  2d  Series,  vol.  vi.  p.  28-36. 

f  In  regard  to  tlie  doubts  which  have  been  recently  expressed,  respecting  the 
common  origin  of  the  asteroids — doubts  founded  on  the  want  of  coincidence  between 
the  nodes  of  Iris  and  Hygeia,  and  those  of  the  other  asteroids — we  are  permitted 
to  insert  the  following  extract  from  a  letter,  written  to  a  common  friend,  by  a  gentle- 
man of  the  greatest  eminence,  as  a  mathematician  and  a  physical  philosopher,  in 
one  of  our  eastern  Institutions. 

"August  \st,  185L 
"  My  Dear  Sir, 

"  I  have  long  since  learned  to  attach  tp  scientific  theories  only  the  value  of  meant 
to  attain  ends — ideas  to  suggest,  and  guide  research,  the  scaffolding  to  erect  a  build- 
ing, rather  than  the  building  itself.  And  therefore  do  I  hold  my  faith  in  them,  free 
to  vary,  ad  infinitum. 

"  Yet  it  must  be  admitted  that  the  coincidences,  or  analogies,  amongst  the  as- 
teroids establish  a  very  great  probability  of  their  common  origin. 

"They  all  (Irene  and  Hygeia  included)  approximate  to  a  common  point  of  inter- 
section in  orbits  ;  and  what  is  strange,  this  region  of  condensation  is  also  intersected 
by  the  orbit  of  Halley's  comet  1  The  orbit  of  Hygeia  does  not  vary  so  much  from 
the  near  position  of  the  orbits  of  the  a.=teroids  [especially  at  their  point  of  nearest 
approach)  as  some  of  them  vary  from  each  other,  or  as  in  my  opinion,  to  require  the 
abandonment  of  the  hypothesis  of  Olbers." 

Indeed,  the  objection,  in  its  greatest  force,  seems  to  involv*  its  own  refutation ; 
for  the  thing  objected  against,  as  fatal  to  the  theory,  is  in  reality,  essential  to  its 
truth  ;  viz.  "  If  these  bodies  are  fragments  of  a  larger  planet,  this  explosion  must 
have  taken  place  at  a  very  remote  epoch."     (''  Hist.  Astr!'  p.  69.) 

Surely,  if  such  an  occurrence  did  take  place,  it  was  at  a  period  indefinitely  remote ; 
at  an  early  stage  of  its  development  as  a  planet.     But  what  would  be  thought  of  « 
an  objocti(jn  against  any  terrestrial  revolution   (say,  the  close  of  the  Silurian  era), 
"  that  such  a  result  could  not  have   taken  place  within  a  million  of  years."     "A 
million  of  years,"  n\a.y  bewilder  unthinking  minds;   but,  unless  all  oui'  astronomy 


AND  NATURAL   SCIENCE. 

Here  then  we  have  two  fragments  of  a  cometary  world,  a 
comet  divided  into  "two  distinct  and  separate  comets,"  and  "the 
two  parts  bound  together,  by  some  inscrutable  bond,  continuing 
their  swift  journey  through  space"  in  orbits  precisely  parallel,  and 
with  constant  changes  in  their  luminous  condition.  Similar 
changes — only  on  a  scale  more  magnificent,  and  with  far  greater 
rapidity — have  been  witnessed  in  Halley's  comet,  which  is  seen  to 
undergo  "singular  and  capricious  changes,  with  great  rapidity;" 
pouring  forth  vast  volumes  of  flame  suddenly,  beneath  the  gaze 
of  the  telescope,  of  which  Struve  says,  recording  such  a  phenom- 
enon— "  The  flame  was  wonderful.  It  resembled  a  ray  of 
FIRE  shot  out  from  the  nucleus,  as  from  some  engine  of  artil- 
lery P^  One  hundred  and  thirty  years  before  the  birth  of  Christ, 
a  comet  (the  same  perhaps)  was  seen  to  blaze  up  in  the  sky, 
and  surpass  the  sun  in  brightness.  ("  PZ.  and  Stel. 
Worlds"  p.  227.)  We  might  hesitate  to  believe  these  extraor- 
dinary accounts  of  changes  in  the  celestial  worlds — the  birth  of  a 
'lew  star  of  extraordinary  brilliancy,  recorded  by  the  Greek 
astronomer,  Hipparchus,  and  others  still  more  wonderful  in  the 
Chinese  records,  had  not  modern  observation  swept  completely, 
and  conclusively  away,  the  fabled  "immutability  of  the  starry 
spheres ;"  and  proven  that  all  above,  around,  beneath,  to  the  re- 
motest parts  of  the  visible  creation,  is  motion — progress — inces- 
sant change;  new  suns  bursting  with  sudden  and  startling  bril- 
liancy upon  our  skies ;  suns,  long  observed,  fading  utterly  away, 
and  other  suns,  passing  (as  Sirius,  for  instance,  from  the  "Red 
Dog  star,"  of  ancient  times,  to  the  beautiful  white  orb  of  our  day) 
through  astonishing  revolutions,  in  the  quantity  and  the  color  of 
their  light.  When  the  astronomer  beholds  these  astounding 
changes; — comets  dividing  into  separate  fragments,  and  kindling 
into  vivid  conflagration  beneath  the  very  gaze  of  his  telescope  ; — - 
Dne  star  robbed,  in  the  period  of  a  few  passing  weeks,  of  half  its 
former  radiance ; — another  growing  gradually  into  five-fold  bright- 
ness ; — another  bursting  instantaneously  forth  with  surpassing 
lustre,  and  shining  on  for  months  with  declining  light,  until  it 

and  geology  be  the  idlest  illusions  (and  if  so,  the  whole  argument  is  abandoned), 
MILLIONS,  -whether  applied  to  our  estimates  of  distance,  in  time  or  space,  are  not 
very  overpowering  numbers  to  the  modern  astronomer,  or  geologist.  One  period  o? 
our  sun's  revolution  around  its  central  sun,  has  been  estimated  at  eighteen  hundred 
million  of  years  {Maedler).  One  million  would  bear  to  this,  the  relation  of  a  single 
year,  to  the  whole  Christian  era !  And  this  single  revolution  of  our  sun,  what  pro- 
portion does  it  bear  to  eternity?  The  eternity  past;  or  the  eternity  to  come?  And 
■who  shall  say,  that  he  has  not  already  made  one,  or  many  such  revolutions  ? 


490        HARMONY   OF  REVELATION  AND   NATURAL  SCIENCE. 

gradually  fades  away,  having  passed  through  all  the  "  changes 
of  a  dying  conflagration,"  he  is  forced  to  exclaim.  "  What  mean 
these  mighty  revolutions,  where  all  had  appeared  so  permanent 
and  stable  ?"  He  has  proposed  his  theory,  and  we  believe  it  to  be 
extremely  probable.  But  whatever  be  the  theory,  the  fact  remains 
indisputable. 

"  MutabiUty"  is  written  on  all  created  things,  God  only  is 
THE  ETERNAL  AND  UNCHANGING  One  !  And  the  voice  which 
comes  to  us  from  those  worlds  of  light,  as  they  kindle  and  fade 
away,  is  but  the  deep  chorus  to  the  majestic  and  solemn  melody 
of  that  old  Hebrew  poet,  as  he  sang  of  old,  ''Thou,  Lord,  in  the 
beginning,  hast  laid  the  foundation  of  the  earth;  and  the  heav- 
ens are  the  works  of  thine  hands.  They  shall  perish,  but  thou 
remainest ;  and  they  shall  all  wax  old  as  doth  a  garment,  and 
as  a  vesture  shalt  thoxi  fold  them  uj)  :  and  they  shall  be  changed  ; 
but  thou  art  the  same,  and  thy  years  shall  not  fail."  (See  espe- 
cially, ^'- Humboldf s  Cosmos,''^  vol.  iii.  p.  151-182.  On  "New 
Stars.") 


n. 


THE    FIRST    CHAPTER    OF    GENESIS. 

Let  us  now  approach  the  first  chapter  of  Genesis,  against  which 
so  many  and  such  contradictory  objections  have  been  urged ; 
and  here,  if  I  mistaive  not,  we  shall  find,  "  instead  of  a  conflict," 
the  same  surprising,  and  "  corroborative  harmony,"  between  the 
discoveries  of  modern  science  and  the  revelations  of  the  Bible, 
which  we  have  already  met  in  the  preceding  part  of  this  discus- 
sion. 

Yerse  1. — The  first  verse  is  now  universally  admitted  to  con- 
lain  the  simple  annunciation  of  God  as  the  creator  of  the 
UNIVERSE.  The  second  describes  the  condition  of  the  earth 
when  God  began  to  prepare  it  immediately  for  the  abode  of  man. 
The  third  records  the  first  of  those  successive  acts  of  Almighty 
Power  by  which  this  chaotic  mass  was  reduced  to  order,  and  made 
a  fit  habitation  for  its  destined  inhabitants. 

That  the  initial  act  recorded  in  the  third  verse  is  subsequent  to 
that  chaotic  condition  of  the  globe,  of  which  the  second  speaks, 
will  be  readily  and  universally  conceded.  That  the  second  ia 
subsequent  in  the  order  of  time,  as  well  as  of  the  narrative,  to 
that  act  of  creation  recorded  in  the  first,  is  equally  apparent. 
That  the  earth  was  not  a  chaos  until  after  its  first  creation,  it 
surely  requires  no  argument  to  prove.  That  this  chaos  existed 
before  it  was  reduced  to  order,  is  palpably  self-evident.  The  first 
verse  tl'en  stands  apart — a  simple  and  sublime  record,  in  general 
terms,  of  the  creation  of  the  heavens  and  the  earth.     With  the 

SECOND  COMMENCES  THE  SPECIFIC  HISTORY  of  OUr  globc  at  the 

period  immediately  antecedent  to  the  creation  of  man.  This  is 
no  new  interpretation  forced  upon  us  by  the  recent  discoveries  of 
geology,  but  is  naturally  suggested,  nay,  imperatively  demanded 
by  the  whole  analogy  of  Scripture ;  which  always  presupposes,  and 


492  THE  HARMONY  OF  EEVELATION 

often  asserts,  the  existence  of  other  intelligences,  in  other  worlds, 
when  "  the  morning  stars  sang  together,  and  all  the  sons  of  God 
shouted  for  joy,"  on  witnessing  the  birth-day  of  this  new  creation. 
It  is  the  earliest  interpretation,  based  upon  this  analogy,  and 
adopted  by  Justin  Martyr,  Basil,  Origen,  Theodoret,  and  Augus- 
tine. It  is  implied,  in  the  words  of  Calvin,  and  Bishop  Patrick; 
and  is  distinctly  asserted  by  Buckland,  Chalmers,  Wardlaw,  and 
other  distinguished  orthodox  divines  of  modern  times. 

"Neither  the  first  verse,  nor  the  first  half  of  the  second,"  says 
Chalmers  [Nat.  Theol.  vol.  i.  p.  251),  "  forms  any  part  of  the  nar- 
rative of  the  first  day's  operations — the  whole  forming  a  prepara- 
tory sentence,  disclosing  to  us  the  initial  act  of  creation  at  some 
remote  and  undefined  period,  and  the  chaotic  state  of  the  world 
at  the  commencement  of  those  successive  acts  of  creative  power, 
by  which,  out  of  rude  and  undigested  materials,  the  present  har- 
mony of  nature  was  ushered  into  being.  Between  the  initial  aqt 
and  the  details  of  Genesis,  the  world,  for  aught  we  know,  might 
have  been  the  theatre  of  many  revolutions,  the  traces  of  which 
geology  may  still  investigate."  (See  Buckland,  p.  25.)  In  the 
first  verse,  then,  we  have  simply  the  assertion  of  one  omnipotent, 
intelligent  First  Cause ;  in  opposition  to  atheism,  pantheism,  and 
polytheism.  And  in  this,  the  Bible  history  is  sustained  by  the 
history  recorded  on  the  rocks.  That  there  was  a-"  beginning," 
and  not  an  eternal  series  of  beings,  is  proven  by  geology  against 
the  atheist.  That  the  whole  progress  of  the  universe  has  been 
guided,  in  all  its  parts,  by  a  supreme  Intelligence,  and  not  by  the 
blind  agency  of  natural  law,  is  established  by  each  new  epoch  in 
geologic  history,  which  demanded  the  interference  of  a  higher 
power  amidst  the  sequences  of  nature.  That  this  presiding  in- 
telligence is  One,  Dr.  Buckland  has  conclusively  established,  from 
that  unity  of  design,  which  pervades  all  the  creations,  and  all  the 
events  of  these  successive  geologic  cycles. 

Verse  2. — The  first  verse  having  asserted  the  original  creation 
of  all  things  by  almighty  power,  the  second  describes  the  subsequent 
condition  of  our  globe  immediately  antecedent  to  the  introdujction  of 
man,  and  the  preparation  of  the  earth  as  an  abode  for  himself  and 
the  contemporary  species.  It  was  a  chaos — "  emptiness  and  desola- 
tion"— demanding  to  be  modified  anew,  and  peopled  with  new  in- 
habitants. Now,  such  precisely  is  the  doctrine  of  geology.  She  tells 
us  of  four  great  geologic  epochs  (with  their  subordinate  divisions) 
each  distinguished  by  its  own  peculiar  fossil  animals ;  separated 


AND   NATURAL   SCIENCE.  493 

by  impassable  barriers ;  and  terminated  by  terrific  catastrophes, 
which  buried  the  myriads  of  hving  beings  in  one  common  sepul- 
chre, and  left  the  earth  a  chaos. 

So  terrible  and  so  universal  has  been  this  destruction  of  ani- 
nnated  beings,  and  so  wide  their  diffusion  over  the  earth,  that  one 
of  our  most  recent  writers,  distinguished  alike  for  accuracy  of 
knowledge  and  sobriety  of  judgment,  has  asserted,  "  that,  proba- 
bly not  a  particle  of  matter  exists  on  the  surface  of  the  earth  that 
has  not  at  some  time  formed  part  of  a  living  being."  [Mrs. 
Somerville,  Phys.  Geography,  p.  31.)  The  strata  containing 
similar  fossils,  are  called  "a  Formation;"  and  each  "Formation" 
indicates  a  decisive  crisis,  "an  entirely  new  era  in  the  earth's  his- 
tory." {Agazziz,  p.  185.)  Between  these  formations,  there  are 
sometimes  huge  chasms  in  geologic  history,  where  the  records  of 
creation  are,  for  indefinite  ages,  a  blank.  "An  immense  geologic 
cycle  elapsed  between  the  secondary  strata  and  the  tertiary.  The 
old  creation  (in  the  secondary  strata)  had  nothing  in  common 
with  the  existing  order  of  things.  Amidst  the  myriad  of  beings 
that  inhabited  the  earth  and  the  ocean  during  the  secondary  fos- 
siliferous  epochs,  scarcely  one  (Agazziz  says  "none^')  is  to  be 
found  in  the  tertiary.  Two  planets  could  hardly  differ  more  in 
their  natural  productions."  [Mrs.  iS.,  p.  24.)  "Upwards  of 
eight  hundred  extinct  species  of  animals  have  been  described  as 
belonging  to  the  earliest,  or  protozoic  and  silurian  period  ;  and  of 
these  only  about  one  hundred  are  found  in  the  overlying  [Devo- 
nian) series,  while  but  fifteen  are  common  to  the  whole  palaeozoic 
period  ;  and  not  one  extends  beyond  it."  (M.  de  Verneuil, 
Ansted,  and  H.  Miller.  Old  Red  Sandstone,  p.  216.)  All — 
all  obliterated !  Describing  one  of  these  scenes  of  death  and 
desolation,  one  of  our  most  celebrated  geologists  says:  "The  fish 
bed  of  the  upper  Ludlow  rock  abounds  more  in  osseous  remains 
than  an  ancient  burying-ground.  The  stratum,  over  wide  areas, 
seems  an  almost  continuous  layer  of  matted  bones,  jaws,  teeth, 
spines,  scales,  palatal  plates,  and  shagreen-like  prickles,  all  massed 
together,  so  that  the  bed  when  'first  discovered,  conveyed  th« 
impression,'  says  Mr.  Murchison,  '  that  it  contained  a  triturated 
heap  of  black  beetles.'  Thus,  ere  oirr  history  begins  (the  history 
of  the  old  red  sandstone),  the  existences  of  two  great  systems,  the 
Cambrian  and  Silurian,  had  passed  into  extinction,  with  the  excep- 
tion of  what  seem,  a  few  connecting  links,  exclusively  molluscs. 
The  exuviae  of  at  least  four  platforms  lay  entombed,  furlong  below 


494  THE   HARMONY   OF  EEVELATION 

furlong,  amid  the  gray,  mouldering  mudstones,  the  consolidated 
clays,  and  the  concretionary  limestones,  that  underlay  the  ancient 
ocean  of  the  old  red  sandstone.  The  earth  had  already  become  a 
vast  sepulchre,  to  a  depth  beneath  the  bed  of  the  sea,  equal  to 
at  least  twice  the  height  of  Ben  Nevis,  over  its  surface."  (O.  Red 
/Sandstone,  p.  216,  217.) 

Passing  on  towards  our  own  era,  we  find  that  of  all  the  fossil 
fishes  from  the  silurian  to  the  end  of  the  tertiary  period,  only  a 
solitary  species  has  been  preserved  or  re-created.  Nay,  the  highest 
living  zoological  authority  asserts,  that  during  all  this  period,  cov- 
ering the  whole  range  of  fossiliferous  strata,  and  fossil  remains 
there  "  are  no  incontestable  traces  of  any  species  of  animals 
now  living."     [Agaz.  p.  204.) 

This  total  and  universal  destruction  of  successive  races — bury- 
ing them  by  myriads  in  the  same  strata — piling  them  high  above 
each  other,  hundreds  of  feet  in  thickness — and  often  amidst  the 
contortions  and  writhings  of  the  death-agony — has  been  attribu- 
ted by  the  great  majority  of  geologists  to  some  sudden  and  terri- 
ble catastrophe,  occasioned  by  some  inexplicable  revolution  in  the 
economy  of  our  planet — extinguishing  former  races,  and  preparing 
an  abode  for  those  who  should  succeed  them,  and  ultimately 
FOR  MAN.  Such  is  the  general  doctrine  of  our  most  eminent 
geologists ;  assumed  as  a  geological  axiom,  in  all  their  writings, 
or  deduced  as  an  immediate  and  irresistible  conclusion  from  all 
the  facts,  indeed  from  the  fundamental  principles  of  the  science. 

"The  first  scene  in  the  tempest,"  writes  Hugh  Miller,  "opens 
amidst  the  confusion  and  turmoil  of  the  hurricane ;  amid  thun- 
ders and  lightnings — the  shouts  of  the  seamen,  and  the  wild  dash 
of  the  billows.  The  history  of  the  period  represented  by  the  old 
red  sandstone,  seems  to  have  opened  in  a  sitnilar  manner.'^ 

"At  this  period  of  our  history,  some  terrible  catastrophe  in- 
volved in  sudden  destruction  the  fish  of  an  area,  at  least  a  hun- 
dred miles  from  boundary  to  boundary,  perhaps  much  more 
("  10,000  square  miles  in  extent,"  next  page).  The  same  plat- 
form in  Orkney,  as  at  Cromarty,  is  strewed  thick  with  remains, 
which  exhibit,  unequivocally,  the  marks  of  violent  death.  The 
figures  are  contorted,  contracted,  curved ;  the  tail,  in  many  in- 
stances, is  bent  round  to  the  head  ;  the  spines  stick  out,  the  fins 
are  spread  to  the  full,  as  in  fish  that  die  in  convulsions.  The 
attitudes  of  all  the  Ichthyolites  on  this  platform  are  attitud-es  of 
fear,  anger,  and  pain.     The  remains,  too,  seem  to  have"  suffered 


AND  NATURAL  SCIENCE.  4#5 

nothing  from  the  after  attacks  of  predaceous  fishes.  None  such 
seem  to  have  survived.  The  record  is  one  of  destruction,  at  once 
widely  spread,  and  total."     (O.  R.  Sandstone,  p.  221,  222.) 

There  is,  indeed,  a  theory  which  denies  all  catastrophes  in 
general,  and,  of  course,  the  particular  catastrophe  that  wrapped  a 
former  world  in  chaotic  ruin  ;  which  asserts  an  absolute  unifor- 
mity of  the  course  of  nature ;  the  operation  of  the  same  causes, 
in  the  same  combination,  and  with  the  same  intensity  of  action, 
through  all  geologic  eras,  and  in  the  human  period;  the  gradual 
and  quiet  extinction  of  animated  species  to  be  succeeded  by  other 
species,  formed  by  successively  repeated  acts  of  creative  power. 
We  shall  not  arrest  the  course  of  our  argument  to  consider  this 
theory  in  all  its  contradictions  ;  but  remark,  in  passing,  first,  while 
seeking  to  avoid  occasional  catastrophes  in  the  destruction  of 
extinct  species,  it  demands  a  perpetuated  miracle  in  the  ever-recur- 
ring act  of  creating  new  species  to  occupy  their  places.  Second, 
it  is  contradicted  by  all  those  examples  of  contemporaneous  races 
simultaneously  destroyed,  buried  hundreds  of  species  together,  deep 
in  the  same  formation,  never  to  reappear.  Of  the  800  species 
belonging  to  the  palaeozoic  period,  why  did  not  one  extend  beyond 
it?  Of  all  the  fossil  inhabitants  of  a  former  world,  through  all 
its  successive  eras,  why  has  not  one  survived?  Why  this  total 
change  in  the  species  that  inhabit  our  globe  since  the  deposit  of 
our  most  recent  strata?  Is  it  that  Infinite  v/isdom  has  adapted 
the  new  inhabitants  to  the  altered  condition  of  the  earth?  Then 
is  that  condition  truly  altered.  Altered!  and  yet  all  that 
constitutes  the  condition  of  a  globe — the  powers  that  operate 
upon  its  surface,  and  in  its  bosom,  in  their  character,  their  combi- 
nation, and  their  intensity — unchanged  ! 

This  leads  us,  indeed,  to  the  true  and  very  obvious  conclusion : 
"Every  radical  revolution  in  the  condition  of  a  globe  demands 
a  correspondent  change  in  the  species  that  inhabit  it ;  and  con- 
versely, every  decisive  change  in  the  character  of  its  species, 
indicates  some  attendant  change  in  the  condition  of  a  globe." 

Man  could  not  have  lived  in  \hdii  former  world.  He  was  not 
adapted  to  it.     It  was  not  prepared  for  him. 

"A  pariialiy  consolidated  planet,  tempested  by  frequent  earth- 
quakes of  such  terrible  potency,  that  tho.se  of  the  historic  ages 
would  be  but  mere  ripples  on  the  earth's  surface  in  comparison, 
could  be  no  proper  home  for  a  creature  so  cojislituted.  Fishes 
and  reptiles   were   l"ie   proper  inhabitants  of  our  planet  during 


4:96  THE   HARMONY   OF   REVELATIOX 

the  earth-tempests.  That  prolonged  ages  of  these  tempests  did 
exist,  and  that  they  gradually  settled  down  until  the  state  of 
things  became  comparatively  fixed  and  stable,  few  geologists 
will  be  disposed  to  deny.  The  evidence  which  supports  this 
special  theory  of  the  development  of  our  planet  in  its  capabilities 
as  a  scene  of  organized  and  sentient  being,  seems  palpable  at  every 
step.  Look,  first,  at  those  graywacke  rocks,  and  after  marking 
how,  in  one  place,  the  strata  have  been  upturned  on  their  edges 
for  miles  together ;  and  how,  in  another,  the  plutonic  rock  has  risen 
molten  from  below — pass  on  to  the  old  red  sandstone,  and  examine 
its  significant  platforms  of  violent  death,  its  faults,  displacements, 
and  dislocations  ;  see,  next,  in  the  coal-measures,  those  evidences 
of  sinking  and  ever-sinking  strata,  for  thousands  of  feet  together; 
mark,  in  the  oolite,  those  vast  overlying  masses  of  trap,  stretching 
athwart  the  landscape  far  as  the  eye  can  reach  ;  observe  carefully 
how  the  signs  of  convulsion  and  catastrophe  gradually  lessen  as 
we  descend  to  the  times  of  the  tertiary,  though  even  in  these 
ages  of  the  mammiferous  quadruped,  the  earth  must  have  had  its 
oft-recurring  ague-fits  of  frightful  intensity;  and  then,  on  closing 
the  survey,  consider  how  exceedingly  partial  and  unfrequent  these 
earth-tempests  have  become  in  the  recent  periods.  There  is  a 
tract  of  country  in  Hindostan  that  contains  nearly  as  many  square 
miles  as  all  Great  Britain,  covered  to  the  depth  of  hundreds  of 
feet  by  one  vast  overfloio  of  trap.  A  tract  similarly  overflown, 
which  exceeds  in  area  all  England,  occurs  in  Southern  Africa. 
The  earth's  surface  is  roughened  with  such,  mottled 

AS  thickly  by  the  PLUTONIC    MASSES   AS    THE    SKIN    OP    THE 

LEOPARD  BY  ITS  SPOTS.  What  could  mail  have  done  on  the 
globe  at  a  tinie  when  such  outbursts  were  comparatively  common 
occurrences?  What  could  he  have  done,  where  Edinburgh  now 
stands,  during  that  overflow  of  trap  porphyry,  of  which  the  Pent- 
land  range  forms  but  a  fragment — or  that  outburst  of  greenstone, 
of  which  but  a  portion  remains  in  the  dark,  ponderous  coping  of 
Salisbury  craigs — or  when  the  thick  floor  of  rock,  on  which  the 
city  stands,  was  broken  up,  like  the  ice  of  an  arctic  sea,  during  a 
tempest  in  spring ;  and  laid  on  edge,  from  where  it  leans  against 
the  Castle  Hill,  to  beyond  the  quarries  at  Joppa?  When  the 
earth  became  a  fit  habitat  for  reptiles  and  birds,  reptiles  and  birds 
were  produced ;  with  the  dawn  of  a  more  stable  and  mature  state 
of  things,  the  sagacious  quadruped  was  ushered  in  ;  and  last  of 
all,  when  man's  house  was  fully  prepared  for  him — when  the  data 


AND   NATURAL  SCIENCE.  497 

on  which  il  is  his  nature  to  reason  and  calculate,  had  become 
fixed  and  certain,  the  reasoning  and  calculating  brain  was  moulded 
by  the  creative  finger— and  man  became  a  living  soul.  Such 
seems  to  be  the  reading  of  the  wondrous  inscription,  chiselled  deep 
in  the  rocks."  {Foot-Prints^  p.  212,  213.)  In  perfect  harmony 
with  this,  is  the  language  of  Agazziz,  when,  having  traced  the 
series  of  animated  beings  from  the  earliest  palaeozoic  period  to 
the  age  of  man,  he  rejects  the  development  hypothesis,  and  says  :  ,"  Aj 

"The  link  by  which  they  are  connected,  is  of  a  higher  and  imma-         ^'f: 
lerial  nature  ;  and  their  connection  is  to  be  sought  in  the  view  of  a" 

the  Creator  himself,  whose  aim  in  forming  the  earth,  in  allowing        / 
it  to  undergo  the  successive  changes  which  geology  has  pointed 
out,  and  in  creating  successively  the  different  orders  of  animals, 
was  to  introduce  man  upon  the  surface  of  our  globe.     Man  is  the 
end  towards  which  all  the  animal  creation  has  tended,  from  th&  < 

first  appearance  of  the  first  palaeozoic  fishes."     {Zoology^  p.  206..)  j 

Such,  then,  were  the  terrific  agencies,  and  such  the  universal  des-  i 

elation,  wliich  preceded  and  introduced  the  fourth  and  last  great         ^* 
geologic  epoch,  called  by  Agazziz,  "  The  Reign  of  Man."     "The 
present  epoch  succeeds  to,  but  is  not  a  continuation  of  the        ^% 
TERTIARY.     These  two  epochs  are  separated  by  a  great  geologi-       ^^ 
cal  event,  traces  of  which  we  see  everywhere  aroond'  us."     (P.  204.)        •;•. ' 
This  great  geological  event,  we  are  told,  destroyed  all  c-pecies  of        '^ 
animals,  marine  and  terrestrial;  and  left  the  earth,  and; sea  a  total        \, 
desolation,  to  be  repeopled  by  a  new  creative  act. 

And  here  our  argument  would  seem  to  be  coiictusive;  all  geo- 
logical eras,  and  the  eternal  counsels  of  Omnipotence  have  pre- 
pared the  earth,  at  length,  for  the  appearance  of  man.  The  last 
great  catastrophe  has  swept  away  all  former  species,  has  intro- 
duced a  new  economy,  and  adapted  the  globe  to  man.  and /his 
contemporary  species.  And  now,  shall  this  lord  of  the  new  crea- 
tion enter  immediately  upon  his  predestined  inheritance.^  along 
with  the  inferior  animals  that  are  to  be  his  contemporaries,  ?  The- 
Bible  says,  they  were  created  simultaneousli/ ;  or  with  a  brief 
interval,  of  which  human  science  can  take  no  cogniza.nce.  And 
precisely  here,  infidelity  joins  issue  with  the  Mosaic  history,  and 
denies  the  truth  of  the  record.  "  We  have  no  evidence/'  it  is 
objected,  "of  the  existence  of  man  along  with  any  extinct  species 
of  animals.  But  there  is  evidence,  that  many  species — now  his 
contemporaries — have  lived,  and  are  buried  along  with  species  now 
extinct;  therefore,  these  animals  must  have  existed  before  the: 

32 


498  TEE   HARMONY   OF  REVELATION 

human  era,  and  cannol  liave  been  created,  as  Moses  asserts,  along 
with  man." 

The  answer  is  threefold  ;  and  is  perfectly  conclusive.  1st.  The 
evidence  asserted,  is  piireli/  negative  ;  and  it  i?,  at  once,  danger- 
ous, and  extremely  unphilosophical,  to  array  the  want  of  evi- 
dence in  one  department,  against  positive,  and  overwhelming 
testimony  in  another.  May  not  future  discoveries  supply  this 
•want  of  evidence? 

2d.  The  objection  is  founded  on  an  assumption,  now  refuted, 
and  generally  abandoned,  that  no  extinct  animal  has  ever 
BEEN  contemporary  with  man.  The  bird  dodo  is  of  a  species 
now  extinct,  yet,  during  the  earlier  voyages  of  the  Dutch  navi- 
gators to  the  East  Indies,  existed  in  great  numbers ;  and  Hum- 
boldt speaks  of  it  as,  "a  species  of  large  animals  (now  extinct) 
of  which  thousands  existed  but  three  centuries  ago."  (Cosmos, 
p.  362.)  The  bones  of  the  mammoth  are  found  mingled  with 
those  of  the  horse,  deer,  (fee,  and  never  with  those  of  man ;  and 
yet,  it  is  generally  admitted  to  have  been  contemporaneous  with 
man.  And,  almost  at  the  very  period  when  we  write,  geology 
has  furnished  the  positive  testimony,  which  was  suggested  above, 
as  the  possible  result  of  farther  investigation.  "At  the  meeting 
of  the  American  Association  (in  1850)  Prof.  Chase,  of  Brown 
University,  exhibited  some  huge  bones  of  the  Dinornis ;"  and 
"  intimated  that  these  gigantic  birds  (ten  or  twelve  feet  high,  and 
attributed  by  Prof.  Owen,  to  the  age  of  the  New  Red  Sandstone) 
had  probably  become  extinct  through  the  agency  of  manP  In 
answer  to  an  objection  raised  by  Prof.  Agazziz,  "  That  we  have 
no  geological  evidence  of  the  existence  of  man  with  extinct 
species  of  animals,^'  Mr.  Mantell  replied,  "That  such  evi- 
dence    HAD     been     recently     DISCOVERED.        BoUCS    of    this 

ch.'iracter  had  been  recently  found,  by  his  brother,  in  the  bed  of  a 
stretjra,  in  some  loose  sand,  where  evidently  was  once  the  chan- 
nel of  a  river.  Digging  down,  he  found  evidence  of  extinct  fires  ; 
and  in  these  charred  places  were  found  bones  of  this  character, 
together  with  human  hones;  those  of  a  dog;  the  remains  of 
shell-fish,  and  fragments'  of  egg-shells,  curved  in  the  contrary 
direction,  by  the  actior  of  fire.  The  reason  for  believing  the 
animal  to  i)-ave  been  cuintemporaheous  with  man,  was,  that  the 
bones  presented  a  white  appearance,  which  can  only  be  produced 
by  burning  the  bones  while  they  contain  animal  matter.''^  ("  An- 
nual of  Scientific   Discover y,^'^   1850,  p.  279,  280.     See   for  a 


AND  NATURAL  SCIENCE.  499 

fuller  account,  and   the    same  conclusion,  Humboldt's   Cosmos, 
vol.  i.  p.  361,  362.) 

3d.  In  regard  to  the  earlier  formations,  the  primary,  secon- 
dary, and  tertiary,  down  to  the  close  of  the  Pliocene  era,  which 
immediately  preceded  the  present  geographical  distribution  of  our 
seas,  continents  and  rivers,  and  prepared  for  the  introduction  of 
man,  there  is,  and  can  be,  no  diversity  of  opinion.  No  animal 
now  in  beings  existed  during  that  immense  -period  antecedent  to 
the  creation  of  m^an.  The  question,  therefore,  concerns  only  the 
so-called  Pleistocene,  or  Newer  Pliocene  era  ;  during  which  (it  is 
contended)  and  before  the  creation  of  man,  these  extinct  animals 
existed  along  loith  some  of  our  present  species.  Here,  however, 
it  must  be  admitted  by  every  candid  geologist,  and  felt  by  every 
intelligent  student  of  the  science,  that  all  our  reasonings  become 
extremely  vague  and  uncertain,  and  partake  the  nature  of  the 
"  vicious  circle.''''  They  prove  the  age  of  the  formation,  from  the 
bones  which  it  contains ;  and  the  age  of  the  bones  from  the  era 
of  the  formation.  "  Thus,  at  Puzzuoli,  near  Naples,"  says 
Mr.  Ijyell,  "  marine  strata  are  seen  containing  fragments  of  sculp- 
ture, pottery,  and  remains  of  buildings,  together  with  innumer- 
able shells  of  the  same  species,  as  those  now  inhabiting  the 
Mediterranean.  Their  emergence  can  be  proven  to  have  taken 
place  since  the  beginning  of  the  sixteenth  century.''^  Of  course 
they  belong  to  the  human  era ;  '•  But  the  hills,"  he  proceeds,  "  at 
the  feet  of  which  these  strata  have  been  deposited,  are  formed  of 
horizontal  strata  of  the  Newer  Pliocene  era."  Why  ?  "  Because 
the  marine  shells  are  of  living  species,  and  yet  are  not  accoin- 
panied  by  any  remains  ofmanP  {-^Elements  of  Geology ,''  p.  170.) 
Again,  "  Near  "Stockholm  when  the  canal  was  dug,  horizontal 
beds  of  sand,  loam,  and  marl  were  passed  through,  in  some  of 
which  the  same  peculiar  assemblage  of  testacea  which  now  live 
in  the  Baltic,  were  found.  Mingled  with  these,  at  various  depths, 
were  detected  various  works  of  art,  and  some  vessels,  built  before 
the  introduction  of  iron."  These,  of  course,  are  of  the  historic 
era.  "  There  are,  however,  in  the  neighborhood  of  these  forma- 
tions, others,  'precisely  similar,  in  mineral  composition,  and  tes- 
taceous remains,  in  which  no  vestige  of  human  art  has  been 
seen.  So  that  we  must  regard  them  as  Newer  Pliocene  forma- 
tions" (p.  171).  "All  conchologists  are  agreed,  that  the  shells 
of  the  deposits  above  mentioned,  are  nearly  all,  perhaps  all, 
absolutely   identical    with   those   now   peopling   the   contiguous 


500  THE   HARMONY   OF   REVELATION 

ocean"  (p.  171).  Yet  these  shells  themselves,  belonging  to  species 
now  existing  in  the  contiguous  ocean,  and  the  bones  of  other 
existing  animals,  found  with  them,  are  decided  to  belong  to  the 
Pleistocene  era  ;  because  the  formation  itself  is  previously  as- 
sumed to  have  been  Pleistocene.  Here,  the  age  of  the  remains 
is  decided  by  the  age  of  the  formation.  But  the  same  formation 
in  the  same  immediate  vicinity,  with  no  other  characteristic  dis- 
tinction, "in  mineral  composition  and  testaceous  remains,  ab- 
solutely the  same,"  is  decided  to  belong  to  the  human  era, 
because  they  contain  human  remains.  Here,  the  age  of  the  for- 
mation is  decided  by  the  known  age  of  the  (human)  remains. 
Having  thus  ascertained  the  age  of  these  strata,  from  the  pres- 
ence of  man  and  his  coexisting  species,  marine  and  terrestrial, 
would  it  not  be  more  rational,  to  retain  this  position,  once  reached 
from  certain  data;  and  to  draw  the  conclusion,  that  the  remains 
of  aniinals,  whose  era  is  otherwise  unknown,  but  which  are 
found  in  strata,  in  all  respects  similar  to  those  which  are  certainly 
contemporary  with  man,  have  been  likewise  contemporary  with 
the  same  strata,  and  thus  contemporary  with  man?  Here  we 
proceed  on  certain  data,  and  positive  evidence.  In  the  other 
process,  the  evidence  is  wholly  negative  ("  If  we  may  depend 
an  negative  evidence,"  says  Mr.  L.,  in  drawing  his  conclusions), 
and  the  assumed  fact  extremely  doubtful. 

Leaving  these  doubtful  speculations,  and  returning  to  established 
truth.  It  is  acknowledged  that  the  catastrophe  which  terminated 
the  Pliocene  era,  and  prepared  the  way  for  man,  and  his  contem-;i 
porary  species,  destroyed  all  previously  existing  beings ;  and  then, 
the  question  simply  is,  "  Whether  the  earth  thus  prepared  for 
new  inhabitants,  was  peopled  at  once,  with  its  destined 
POPULATION?"  Or,  "Whether  the  creation  of  man  was  delayed, 
for  indefinite  centuries,  after  the  completion  of  the  abode,  which 
all  geological  cycles  had  been  preparing  for  him  ?"  It  is,  in  fact, 
only  another  form  of  the  question,  "Whether  the  various  contem- 
porary species  have  been  created  together,  after  the  extinction 
of  their  predecessors?"  Or,  according  to  Mr.  Lyell's  hypothesis, 
"There  has  been  a  continuous  process,  from  day  to  day,  and  year 
to  3'ear,  of  gradual  extinction  of  old  species,  throughout  all  geo- 
logic eras;  and,  moving  on  parallel  with  it,  side  by  side,  the  con- 
tinuous exercise  of  creative  power  in  the  production  of  new 
species?"  That  is,  "Whether  we  shall  acknowledge  a  single 
MIRACULOUS  creation,  at  the  commencement  of  each  new  era; 


AND  NATURAL   SCIENCE.  501 

or,  perpetually  recurring  miracles  through  the  whole  rat^ge  of 
iime?"  To  adopt  the  latter  proposition  is,  either  to  annihilate 
"a  course  of  nature,"  by  supposing  another  cowse  of  7nlracu- 
lous  agency,  moving  on  contemporaneously  with  it,  and  superior 
to  it ;  or,  to  destroy  all  miraculous  creation  by  reducing  extraor- 
dinary interpositions  to  ordinary  events  ;  or,  rather,  it  is,  in  at- 
tempting to  reconcile  the  two  {a  course  of  nature,  and  a  course 
of  supernatural  miracles),  to  annihilate  both  ;  to  assert  a  "course 
of  nature,"  which  is  not  "  the  course  of  nature ;"  and,  "  an  ex 
traordinary  agency,"  which,  after  all,  is  "ordinary."* 


*  The  whole  three  volumes  of  "The  Principles  of  Geology,"  by  Mr.  Lyell,  are,  bu|t 
the  defence,  the  illustration,  and  the  varied  application,  of  the  doctrine  of  "  the  ab- 
6olute  uniformity  of  the  course  of  nature,  through  all  geologic  epochs."  Preface, 
page  9th,  he  gives  it,  as  the  express  design  of  the  "  Preliminary  essay,"  in  the  first 
book,  to  prove,  "  That  the  forces,  novr  operating  upon,  and  beneath  the  earth's  sur- 
face, may  be  the  same  both  in  kind  and  in  degree,  with  those,  which  at  remote 
epochs,  have  worked  out  geological  revolutions  ;  the  ancient  and  present  fluctuations 
in  the  ORGANIC  and  inorganic  world,  belonging  to  one  continuous  and  uniform 
SERIES  OF  events"  Let  us  remark,  "  the  forces  are  the  same  in  kind  and  degree," 
and  include  ''the  organic  and  inorganic  world"  Again,  vol.  i.  p.  116,  "During  the 
ages  contemplated  in  geology,  there  has  never  been  any  interruption  to  the  same 
uniform  laws  of  change."  On  page  1 30,  he  denies  and  derides  "  any  extraordinary 
deviations  from  the  known  '  course  of  nature.'  "  And  on  p.  118,  with  great  simplicity, 
argues  against  any  increase  of  the  frequency,  or  intensity  of  earthquakes ;  that  if 
Buch  increase  should  ever  occur,  or  ever  have  occurred,  it  must  inevitably  produce 
that  very  chaotic  condition  wJiich  the  Bible  asserts — as  the  result  of  the  "  earth- 
tempests"  of  H.  Miller,  and  "  the  turbulent  conditions  of  our  planet  whilst  stratifica- 
tion was  in  progress,  and  the  activity  of  volcanic  agents,  then  frequent  and  intense," 
described  by  Buckland  (p.  103). 

"  Now  should  one  or  two  only  of  these  convulsions  happen  in  a  century,  it  would 
be  consistent  with  the  order  of  events  experienced  by  the  Chilians  from  the  earliest 
times.  But,"  proceeds  the  writer,  with  imperturbable  gravity,  "  but,  if  the  whole 
of  tliem  were  to  occur  within  the  next  hundred  years,  the  entire  district  must  be 
depopulated,  scarcely  any  plants  or  animals  could  survive  ;  and  the  surface  would 
be  ONE  CONFUSED  HEAP  OF  RUIN  AND  DESOLATION!"  That  is,  would  present  precisely 
that  scene  of  "  ruin  and  desolation,"  which  all  ancient  strata  exhibit,  and  which  the 
Bible  expressly  asserts ! 

But,  if  there  be  this  "  uniform  and  continuous  series,  without  any  interruption, 
in  the  organic  as  well  as  inorganic  world,"  then,  what  shall  we  say  of  man  ?  Is  he 
one  term  in  this  "  uniform  and  continuous  series,"  this  established  "  course  of  nature  V 
To  this,  Mr.  Lyell  replies  (p.  256),  "The  course  of  nature  remains  evidently  un- 
changed," "  with  the  exception  only  of  man's  presence."  "It  is  not,  however,  in- 
tended that  a  real  departure  from  the  antecedent  course  of  physical  events  cannot 
be  traced  in  the  introduction  of  man,"  or  "  that  the  agency  of  man  did  not  con- 
stitute    an    ANOMALOUS     DEVIATION     FROM     THE     PREVIOUSLY     ESTABLISHED     ORDER    OF 

things"  (p.  257,  258). 

Here  then,  we  have  "  one  continuous  and  uniform  series  of  events,"  in  which 
"  there  never  has  been  any  interruption ;"  and  yet,  "  a  departure  from  the  antecedent , 
course  of  physical  events."  "  An  anomalous  deviation  from  the  previously  estab-  • 
lished  order  of  things ;"  and  yet,  again,  no  "  extraordinary  deviation  from  the  known 
course  of  nature;"  and  still  farther  (p.  259),  "Had  he  previously  presumed  to  dog- 
matize, respecting  the  absolute  uniformity  of  the  order  of  nature,  he  would  undoubt- 
edly be  cliecked,  by  witnessing  this  new  and  unexpected  event,"  "  this  peculiar  and 
unprecedented  agency,"  "  this  anomalous  deviation  from  the  established  order," 
which  "  affords  ground  for  concluding  that  the  experience,  during  thousands  of  aqes, 
OF  all  the  events  which  may  happen  on  this  globe,  would  not  enable  a  philosopher 


602  THE  -HARMONY   OF  REVELATION 

Let  us  now  proceed  to  consider  the  history  of  this  new  creation. 

Verses  3,  and  4.  —  These  contain  the  first  day's  work,  in  con- 
nection with  the  fourth  day's  work,  recorded  in  the  passage,  from 
the  14th  verse  to  the  18th,  both  included. 

The  difficulty  which  spontaneously  presents  itself  to  every 
mind  in  connection  with  these  verses,  is  briefly  and  clearly  ex- 
pressed by  the  German  rationalist,  in  his  commentary  on  the  pas- 
sage.    "  When  God,"  says  Rosenmiiller,  "  began  to  arrange  this 

to  speculate  with  confidence  concerning  future  contingencies."  A  continuous  series, 
from  which  there  is  a  departure  !  A  uniformity,  which  is  not  uniform !  An  estab- 
lished order,  from  whicli  there  is  an  anomalous  deviation !  Such  is  the  system. 
First,  it  asserts  an  uninterrupted  uniformity  in  the  course  of  nature,  through  all 
geological  epochs.  Then,  it  acknowledges  the  intervention  of  a  peculiar,  and  "  moral 
source  of  temporary  derangement,"  a  supernatural  agency,  in  the  creation  of  man  and 
other  animals.  Then  reasserts  the  abandoned,  and  interrupted  uniformity,  once  more. 
How  shall  we  reconcile  these  apparent  contradictions?  By  including  both,  says 
Mr.  Lyell,  the  creation  of  species  by  supernatural  power ;  and  their  extinction  by 
the  ordinary  agencies  of  nature,  in  the  same  "  economy  of  nature."  Let  us  "  im- 
agine the  successive  creation  of  species  to  constitute,  like  their  gradual  extinction,  a 

EEGUL.\R  PAttT  OF  THE  ECONOMY  OF  NATURK."       {Prijiciplcs,  Vol.  iii.  p.  234.) 

Now,  the  "  creation  of  species,"  as  here  employed,  means  the  exercise  of  an  ex- 
traordinary power,  different  from,  and  superior  to  the  course  of  nature ; — for  Mr. 
Lyell  denies  the  transmutation  of  species,  and  rejects  the  development  hypothesis  in 
all  its  forms.  Besides  that  ordinary  course  of  nature,  then,  which  extinguishes  ex- 
isting species,  there  is,  in  "  the  economy  of  nature,"  another  agency,  superior  to  it, 
yet  moving  on  parallel  with  it,  through  all  geologic  eras,  and  even  now,  calling  suc- 
cessive species  into  existence,  by  creative  power,  from  day  to  day,  or  as  he  hypothet- 
ically  suggests,  from  year  to  year  (page  238).  To  the  objection,  "  that  no  one  has 
ever  ascertained  the  existence  of  any  new  species  created,  during  all  the  centuries 
of  our  epoch,"  he  replies  that  "  the  objection  may  seem  plausible ;"  and  proceeds 
to  show  that  these  new  species  may  come  into  being  by  "  annual  birth,"  and  depart 
by  "  annual  death,"  and  yet  be  unobserved  by  men.  (Vol.  iii.  p.  235-239.)  Here 
then,  is  one  "  course  of  nature,"  to  destroy,  and  another,  in  the  "  same  economy," 
to  create.     Which  is  '  the  course  of  nature  ?" 

Here  is  a  power  called  creative — in  other  words,  supernatural,  or  miraculous ;  yet 
in  perpetual  ordinary  operation.  A  perpetual  miracle  ceases  to  be  a  miracle  at  all. 
The  extraordinary  agency,  is,  after  all,  ordinary.  Again,  it  is  worth  the  observation, 
that  this  creative  power  belongs,  strangely  enough,  to  the  "  same  economy  of 
NATURE,"  with  any  other  power  ;  and  its  agency  is  sustained  by  the  same  subterfuge 
which  W.1S  employed  by  the  older  atheists,  and  modern  pantheists,  and  advocates  of 
the  development  hypothesis.  "  To  the  natural  objection  that  the  earth  does  not  now 
produce  men,  lions,  d'c.  (or  any  new  species),  Epicurus  answers,  We  are  backward 
in  admitting  it,  for  the  reason,  that  it  happens  in  retired  places,  and  never  falls  under 
our  view,"  (fee.  "  It  is  far  from  being  certain,"  says  the  author  of  the  Vestiges,  "  that 
the  primitive  imparting  of  life  and  form  to  inorganic  elements,  is  not  a  fact  of  our 
times."  (See  Foot-Prints,  p.  282,  283.)  "  Periods  of  much  greater  duration"  (says 
Mr.  L.),  "  must  elapse  before  it  would  be  possible  to  authenticate  the  first  appear- 
ance of  one  of  the  larger  plants,  and  animals,  assuming  the  annual  birth  and  death 
of  one  species"  (p.  239). 

Such  is  the  the  theory,  then,  with  its  manifold  contradictions,  its  atheistic  ten- 
dencies, and  its  appeal  to  the  same  undiscovered  facts,  upon  which,  the  advocates  of 
atheistic  and  pantheistic  views  have  always  fallen  back; — that  is,  arrayed  against 
the  simple  statement  of  the  Bible,  concerning  the  simultaneous  creation,  by  Almighty 

power,   of  ALL   THE  CONTEMPORARY    .SPECIES,  AT    THE    COMMENCEMENT    OF  OUR  ERA.       See 

a  total  annihilation  of  this  theory  of  gradual  extinction  of  species,  in  Sir  R.  Mur- 

chison's  recent  address — "  Proe.  Rojal  Soc,  March  7th,  1851."     Between  the  youngest 

'  of  the  primary,  and  the  oldest  of   the  secondary  strata,  there  is  not  one  species  in 

cmnmon.     "  An  entirely  new  creatitjn  had  succeeded  to  universal  decay  and  death." 


AND  NATURAL   SCIENCE.  508 

formless  matter,  it  seemed  first  of  all  necessaiy,  that  the  light  of 
day  should  dispel  the  ancient  darkness,  in  which  all  things  had 
been  enveloped.     Men,  in  the  early  ages  of  the  world,  could  easily 
believe  that  light  did  not  proceed  from  the  sun  ;  but  wasof  aPLUTD 
NATURE,since,  even  when  the  sun  was  obscured  with  clouds,  they 
could   perceive  all  things,  brightened   with  light."     That  there 
should  be  different  methods  of  reconciling  this  brief  narrative  of 
events,  so  distant  in  time,  and  so  obscurely  revealed,  to  the  differ- 
ent scientific  views  of  men,  is  not  more  astonishing  than  are  the 
various  theories  devised  for  the  purpose  of  harmonizing  the  com- 
plicated, and  apparently  contradictory  facts  in  any  department  of 
human  science.     The  defect  is  not  in  nature,  or  in  revelation,  but 
in  man.    Dr.  Buckland  has  proposed  the  following  method.    "  The 
interpretation  here  proposed  seems  to  solve  the  difficulty,  which 
would  otherwise  attend  the  statement  of  the  appearance  of  light 
upon  the  first  day,  while  the  sun,  moon  and  stars  are  not  made 
to  appear  until  the  fourth.     If  we  suppose  all  the  heavenly  bodies 
and  the  earth  to  have  been  created  at  the  indefinitely  distant  time, 
designated  by  the  word  'beginning;'  and  that  the  darkness  de- 
scribed on  the  evening  of  the  first  day,  was  temporary  darkness, 
produced  by  the  accumulation  of  vapors  "  on  the  face  of  the  deep  ;" 
an  incipient  dispersion  of  these  vapors  ma)^  have  readmitted  light 
■to  the  earth  on  the  first  day,  whilst  the  exciting  cause  of  light 
was  still  obscured  ;  and  the  further  purification  of  the  atmosphere 
on  the  fourth  day,  may  have  caused  the  sun,  and  moon  and  stars 
to  reappear  in  the  firmament  of  heaven,  to  assume  their  new  rela- 
tions to  the  newly-modified  earth,  and  to  the  human  race."     ( Geol. 
p.  33,  34.)     This  theory  is  not  only  ingenious,  but  natural  and 
obvious  ;  and  must  have  suggested  itself  to  any  scientific  mind 
as  one  of  the  possible  solutions  of  a  difficulty  which  lies  patent  to 
the  most  superficial  reader.     It  has  been  adopted  by,  perhaps,  the 
major  part  of  apologists  for  the  Bible  ;  and  may  Idc  found  more  or 
less  ably  developed  with  various  modifications,  additions,  verbal 
alterations,  and  learned  criticisms  in  many  modern  treatises  and 
commentaries,  of  which  that  by  Bush  is  probably  (on  this  subject) 
the  best,  and  most  generally  accessible.     So  that  it  lies  within  the 
reach  of  every  candid  inquirer,  and  need  not  delay  us  here  with 
its  prolonged  consideration.     In  its  defence,  thus  much  at  least 
may  be  confidently  affirmed.     It  must,  in  all  fairness,  be  acknowl- 
edged that  the  inspired  narrative  neither  expressly  asserts  nor 
necessarily  implies  that  the  darkness  of  chaos  was  eternal.    Neither 


504  THE   HARMONY   OF  REVELATION 

does  the  phrase,  "Let  there  be  light,"  nor  the  immediately  subse- 
quent appearance  of  light  amidst  the  chaotic  darkness  deny  its 
antecedent  existence,  more  than  the  bursting  of  light  upon  the 
midnight  darkness  now  at  the  divine  command,  or  even  the  dawa 
of  day  in  the  ordinary  course  of  nature  could  be  supposed  to  dis- 
prove the  reality  of  the  previous  day.  In  one  case,  as  in  the  other, 
the  darkness  may  have  been  temporary.  The  geologist  may  well 
assert  the  existence  of  light  during  that  long  period  which  pre- 
ceded the  chaotic  condition  of  our  planet  on  the  same  principle 
which  asserts  the  antecedent  existence  of  animated  beings,  for 
these  animated  beings  have  organs  of  vision  constructed  on  the 
same  optical  principles  with  our  own.  {Buckland^  vol.  i,  p.  134-136.) 
But  during  that  chaotic  condition  the  evidence  wholly 

FAILS,  AND    ALONG    WITH    IT    THE    ARGUMENT,  for   there  is  thcD 

neither  animal  nor  organ ;  and  may  not  the  same  mysterious  cir- 
cumstances in  the  early  economy  of  our  planet,  which  led  to  the 
destruction  of  all  animated  beings  by  causes  inscrutable  to  us, 
have  so  affected  the  condition  of  our  atmosphere  by  causes  not 
more  inexplicable,  as  to  overload  it  with  vapors  impenetrable  by 
light,  or  alter  its  chemical  constitution,  or  otherwise  modify  those 
unknown  circumstances  which  are  necessary  to  the  evolution  and 
the  manifestation  of  that  still  mysterious  influence,  to  which, 
though  ignorant  of  its  nature,  we  give  the  name  of  light?  Sim- 
ilar reasoning  may  be  legitimately  applied  to  the  words,  "  Let 
there  be  lights,'"  or  "luminaries,"  or  "light-bearers,"  in  the  14th 
verse. 

The  principal  difficulty  in  this  interpretation  will  be  found  by 
many  minds  in  the  words  of  the  16th  verse,  "  God  made  two 
great  luminaries."  "The  text  may  imply,"  says  Dr.  Buckland, 
"  that  these  bodies  were  then  prepared  and  appointed  to  cer- 
tain offices  of  high  importance  to  mankind,  'to  give  light  upon 
the  earth ;'  '  to  be  for  signs,  and  for  seasons,  and  for  days,  and  for 
years.'  " 

"  The  original  word  for  '  made,'  "  says  another  advocate  of  this 
interpretation,  Mr.  Bush,  "  is  not  the  same  as  that  which  is  ren- 
dered 'created.'  It  is  a  term  frequently  employed  to  signify 
CONSTITUTED,  APPOINTED,  Set  for  a  particular  purpose  or  use. 
And  these  luminaries  though  actually  called  into  existence  previ- 
ously, were  henceforth,  by  their  rising  and  setting,  to  be  the  visi- 
ble MEANS  of  producing  this  separation,  or  succession,"  viz.,  of 
Ught  and  darkness,  dav  and  night.     But  here  the  difficulty 


AND   NATURAL  SCIENCE.  505 

wfLL  recur:  ''There  is  a  difference,  clearly,  between  the  mere 
appointment  to  an  office  and  the  physical  adaptation  to  that 
especial  service."  Here  it  is  perfectly  manifest  that  the  writer 
speaks  not  of  mere  official  appointment,  but  of  physical  adapta- 
tion. The  sun  and  moon  had  ceased  to  be  ''the  visible"  lights  of 
heaven.  They  now  became  such  ;  whether  by  a  change  in  their 
own  physical  condition,  or  in  the  constitution  of  our  atmosphere, 
is  not  asserted  in  the  text.  Again,  the  same  Hebrew  word  which, 
in  this  interpretation,  is  rendered  "appointed"  or  "constituted,"  is 
employed,  in  its  ordinary  sense,  in  the  same  narration,  verse  7th, 
"And  God  made  the  firmament,"  where  it  is  surely  applied  to  a 
remodification,  at  least,  of  pre-existing  materials,  and  their  physi- 
cal adaptation  to  new  purposes.  To  assume  that  the  same  word 
is  used  in  different  senses  in  the  same  narrative,  on  the  same  gen- 
eral subject,  and  in  a  similar  connection,  can  only  be  justified  by 
thB  most  stringent  necessity.  Yet  even  this  difficulty  is  by  no 
means  greater  than  those  which  attend  many  physical  hypotheses 
now  generally  adopted ;  and  this  may  be  helt,  as  they  are, 
CONDITIONALLY — as  a  possible  solution,  until  one  more  satisfactory 
may  be  providentially  sijggested. 

But  what  if  the  solution  so  laboriously  sought  lies  palpably  on 
the  surface?  What  if  the  objection  contains  its  own  confutation, 
and  suggests,  nay,  employs  the  very  words  of  that  modern  the- 
ory of  light  which  is  now  generally  adopted  by  philosophers? 

What  if  the  temporary  darkness  and  subsequent  reillumination 
of  our  sun  be  (according  to  our  profoundest  astronomers)  not  only 
a  possible,  but  an  extremely  probable  event,  rendered  probable  by 
many  similar  occurrences  in  the  heavens,  recorded  within 
the  last  three  hundred  years,  and  by  some  even  now  transpiring 
under  the  scrutiny  of  our  telescopes  !  What  if  the  great  names 
of  La  Place  and  Argelander,  of  Herschell  and  Humboldt,  are 
arrayed,  on  astronomical  principles,  decisively  in  favor  of  this 
view  ? 

What  if  the  greatest  physical  philosophers  of  our  day  have 
advanced  still  farther,  and  not  only  announced  this  variability  of 
our  sun's  light,  but  its  actual  variation  in  past  time  as 
extremely  probable?  And  finally,  what  if  they  have  from 
geological  phenomena  identified  one  period  of  its  obscuration  with 
that  great  geological  event  which  terminated  the  tertiary  epoch, 
and  immediately  preceded  the  present  distribution  of  our  land  and 
water — our  oceans,  rivers,  and  continents'^ 


506  THE   HARMONY   OF   REVELATION" 

Now  THE  ASSERTIONS  IMPLIED  IN  THESE  SVCCESSIVE  aUES- 
TIONS    CONTAIN    THE    SIMPLE    STATEMENT   OF  HISTOIUC   FACTS. 

The  evidence  we  proceed  immediately  to  adduce;  and  it  will  ap- 
pear, tliat  every  proposition  which  can  be  fairly  educed  IVom  (he 
most  literal  interpretation  of  the  Mosaic  record,  is  in  perfect,  and 
indeed  surprising  harmony,  with  the  latest  and  even  the  boldest 
theories  of  modern  science.  According  to  the  most  literal  inter- 
pretation, the  following  three  propositions  may  be  considered  as 
involved  in  the  sacred  narrative  : — 

First.  That  light  is  wholly  independent  of  the  sun.  According 
to  the  objection,  its  phenomena  result  from  the  movements  of  a 
"subtle  fluid." 

Second.  The  sun  is  not  self-luminous,  but  is  a  "  lightbearer" 
only;  cpCoinjo  in  the  Greek  translation,  "Maor"  in  the  original 
Hebrew  ;  the  place  or  body  where  the  light  is  concentrated,  as 
clearly  distinguished  in  the  original  from  the  liglit  itself,  as  the 
lamp,  or  the  lamp-post,  from  the  light  which  they  "  bear." 

Third.  The  sun  has  not  always  been  thus  a  "great  luminary'' 
or  "  lightbearer,"  but  at  the  period  of  the  last  re-organization  of 
our  system  from  the  ruins  of  chaos,  experienced  (whether,  for  the 
first  time,  or  after  a  temporary  obscuration,  is  not  asserted)  that 
physical  change  in  the  constitution  of  his  mass,  on  which  depends 
the  evolution  of  light  and  heat — the  photiferous,  or  light-giving 
power. 

1st.  Light  is  wholly  independent  of  the  sun.  Whatever  may 
be  our  theory  of  light,  the  "molecular,"  or  the  "  undulatory,"  or 
whether  we  have  any  theory  at  all,  the  same  great  facts  are  in- 
disputably true.  The  unknown  cause  of  our  visual  sensations,  to 
which  we  give  the  name  of  light,  as  if  it  were  some  separate  mate- 
rial substance,  is,  within  all  known  distances,  universally  diffused. 
It  is  not  confined  to  the  sun,  or  the  direct  radiation,  or  the  reflec- 
tion of  his  rays,  but  is  developed  almost  illimitably  from  all  the 
objects  arouftd  us,  through  human  instrumentality,  by  mechan- 
ical friction,  by  chemical  combination.  It  is  present  in  the 
most  distant  nebulae  of  the  farther  heavens  ;  it  bursts  from  the 
bowels  of  the  earth  in  volcanic  eruptions  ;  it  pervades  the  pro- 
foundest  depths  of  the  ocean,  where  flov/ers  of  variegated  and 
brilliant  hues  are  known  to  grow,  and  fish  to  dwell  amidst  circum- 
stances that  would  be  as  midnight  darkness  to  our  eyes.  It  ap- 
pears highly  probable  from  recent  discoveries,"  sa3rs  Dr.  Buckland, 
"  that  light  is  not  a  material  substance,  but  only  an  effect  of  un- 


AND   NATURAL   SCIENCE,  507 

dulations  of  ether ;  ihat  this  infinitely  subtle  and  elastic  ctlier  per- 
vades all  space,  and  even  the  interior  of  all  bodies ;  so  long  as  it 
remains  at  rcsf.,  there  is  total  darkness ;  when  it  is  put  into  a  pe- 
culiar state  of  vibration,  the  sensation  of  light  is  produced;  this 
vibration  may  be  excited  by  various  causes,  by  the  sun,  by  the  stars, 
by  electricity,  combustion,  (fcc.  If,  then,  light  be  not  a  substance, 
but  only  a  series  of  vibrations  of  ether,  that  is,  an  effect  produced 
on  a  subtle  fluid  by  the  excitement  of  one  or  many  extraneous 
causes,  it  can  hardly  be  said,  nor  is  it  said  in  Gen.  i.  3,  to  have 
been  created,  though  it  may  be  literally  said  to  be  called  into  ac- 
tion/'   (P.  35.) 

It  is  apparent,  then,  that  the  philosophy  of  Moses  is  infinitely 
superior  to  that  of  his  German  assailant  in  regard  to  the  true 
nature  of  light,  and  its  relation  to  the  sun. 

Is     THIS     COINCIDENCE     WHOLLY     FORTUITOUS      betWCeU     the 

teachings  of  our  latest  philosopliy  and  those  of  an  author  who 
wrote  more  than  three  thousand  years  ago,  and  upon  a  point 
where  the  doctrines  of  both  are  in  direct  antagonism  to  the  natu- 
ral conclusions  of  the  learned  and  unlearned,  derived  from  all  the 
ordinary  phenomena?     Or  is  it  a  "corroborative  harmony?" 

2d.  The  body  of  the  sun  is  not  self-luminous,  but  a  "light- 
bearer  ;"  not  itself  intrinsically  light,  but  illuminated  by  a  lumi- 
nous atmosphere,  or  strata  of  luminous  matter,  by  which  this  dark 
body  is  surrounded. 

Since  the  observations  of  Dr.  Wilson  and  the  elder  Herschell 
upon  the  sun's  spots,  this  is  generally  conceded.  The  idea  of 
dark  bodies  revolving  around  the  sun,  is  long  since  exploded. 
"But  what  are  the  spots?"  asks  Sir  John  Herschell.  "Many 
fanciful  notions  have  been  broached  upon  this  subject,  hut  only 
one  seems  to  have  any  degree  of  physical  probability,  viz.,  that 
they  are  the  dark,  or,  at  least,  comparatively  dark,  solid  body  of 
the  sun  itself,  laid  bare  to  our  view  by  those  immense  fluctuations 
in  the  luminous  regions  of  its  atmosphere,  to  which  it  appears  to 
be  subject."     ("  Outlines  of  Astronomy, ^^  p.  223.) 

"  The  sun,"  says  Nicholl,  the  gifted  professor  of  astronomy  in 
Glasgow  University,  "'the  sun  consists  mainly  of  a  dark  mass,  hke 
the  body  of  the  earth  and  other  planetary  globes ;  which  is  sur- 
rounded by  two  atmospheres,  of  enormous  depths,  the  one  nearest 
him  being,  like  our  own,  cloudy  and  dense ;  while  the  loftier  stra- 
tum consists  of  those  dazzling,  phosphorefa*ent  zephyrs,  that  bestow 


508  THE   HARMONY   OF  REVELAIION 

light  and  heat  on  so  many  surrounding  spheres."     ("  Planetary 
/System,^^  p.  325,  new  Ed.) 

3d.  That  the  sun  has  not  been  uniformly  thus  a  great  "light- 
bearer,"  but  after  a  temporary  obscuration  probably,  was  re-illu- 
mined at  the  commencement  of  our  present  economy.  "  No  more 
is  hght  inherent  in  the  sun,"  says  NichoU,  "  than  in  Tycho's  van- 
ished star ;  and  as  with  it  and  other  orbs,  the  time  may  come 
when  he  shall  cease  to  be  required  to  shine."  (P.  341.)  Sir  J. 
Herschell  having  discovered  that  a  large  and  brilliant  star,  called 
Alpha  Orionis,  had  sustained  in  the  course  of  six  weeks  a  loss 
of  nearly  half  its  light,  remarks,  '•  This  phenomenon  cannot  fail  to 
awaken  attention,  and  revive  those  speculations  which  were  first 
put  forth  by  my  father,  Sir  W.  Herschell,  respecting  the  possibility 

of  a  CHANGE  IN  THE  LUSTRE    OF  OUR    SUN  ITSELF.       If  there  bc 

really  a  community  of  nature  between  the  sun  and  the  fixed  stars, 
every  proof  that  we  obtain  of  the  extensive  prevalence  of  such 
periodical  changes  in  those  remote  bodies,  adds  to  the  probability 
of  finding  something  of  the  kind  nearer  home."     ('•  Proceedings 
Royal  Ast.  jSoc.^'  Jan.  1840.)    "  The  question  cannot  fail  to  suggest 
itself  here,"  says  Nicholl,  "  whether  the  sun   is  now  as  he 
ever  will  be,  or  only  in  one  state  or  epoch  of  his  efficacy, 
as  the  radiant  source  of  light  and  heat?     The  jieiv  star  in  Cassi- 
opeia, seen  by  Tycho,  for  instance,  indicated  some  great  change 
in  the  light  and  heat  of  an  orb.     That  star  never  moved  from  its^  ^ 
place  ;  and  during  its  course,  from  extreme  brilliancy  to  apparent 
extinction,  the  color  of  its  light  altered,  passing  through  the  hues 
of  a  dying  conflagration.     Many  other  stars  have  altered  slowly^'^ 
in  magnitude,  also  preserving  rigorous  inviolability  of  place ;  and 
some,  as  Sirius,  have  changed  color ;  this  star  having  turned  from 
the  fixed  Dog-star  of  old  times,  red  and  fiery  as  Mars,  into  the 
brilliantly  white  orb  now  adorning  our  skies.     Is  it  not  likely,7fe 
then,  that  the  intrinsic  energies  to  whose  development  these  phe-'^" 
nornena  must  be  owing,  act  also  in  our  sun,  that  he  also  may 
pass  through  phases,  filling  up  myriads  of  centuries,  once,  perhaps,.! 
shining  upon  Uranus,  with  a  lustre  as  burning  as  that  which  now'* 
dazzles  Mercury?"     {^^ Solar  System"  p.  130,  131.)     It  would  be'* 
difficult  to  present  within  the  limited  space  assigned  to  this  discus-'S 
sion,  even  a  small  portion  of  that  evidence  upon  which  these  sug-^^i 
gestions  have  been  based.     They  bring  us,  at  once,  amidst  the"* 
sublimest  and  most  startling  discoveries  of  our  modern  astronomy.,^ 
to  the  contemplation  of  stupendous  changes,  past,  present,  and 


AND   NATURAL  SCIENCE.  609 

future,  which  have  occurred,  which  are  occurring,  which  may  be 
legitimately  anticipated  in  the  remoter  heavens.  They  hnk  to- 
gether in  harmonious  union  those  two  great  sciences,  astronomy 
and  geology,  as  complemental  portions  of  one,  still  sublimer  and 
more  comprehensive  science ;  and  show  us,  that,  while  this  earth 
has  been  the  theatre  of  many  revolutions  in  its  progressive  prepa- 
ration for  its  destined  occupants,  the  same  great  law  of  change 
and  progress  pervades  the  universe  around,  and  revolutions  still 
more  magnificent  by  agencies  equally  terrific  and  irresistible,  have 
jtiarked  the  history  of  those  upper  v^'orlds. 

For  the  sake  of  simplicity  and  distinctness,  we  shall  present  all 
that  our  limits  will  allow,  in  the  form  of  separate  and  successive 
propositions. 

1st.  Many  suns  once  shining  in  our  heavens,  have  since,  within 
the  knowledge  and  the  memory  of  man,  become,  at  least  for  an 
uncalculated  period,  apparently  extinct ;  have  wholly  ceased 
TO  SHINE.  Others  have  varied  greatly  in  their  light,  in  its  in- 
tensity, and  color;  gradually  or  suddenly  increased,  diminished, 
or  totally  suspended.  And  these  startling  revolutions,  once  de- 
rided as  the  exaggerations  of  ignorance  or  superstition,  are  now 
amongst  the  established  facts  of  astronomical  science,  and  the 
famihar  objects  of  contemporary  observation.* 

*  '"There  are  many  well- authenticated  cases  of  the  disappearance  of  old  stars, 
whose  places  had  been  fixed  with  a  degiee  of  certainty  not  to  be  doubted.  In  Oc- 
tober, 1781.  Sir  Williiini  Herschell  observed  a  star,  No.  55,  in  Flamsted's  Catalogue, 
in  the  Constellation  Hercules.  In  1790,  the  same  star  was  observed  by  the  same 
astronomer,  but  since  that  time,  no  search  has  been  able  to  detect  it.  The  stars 
named  80  and  81,  in  the  same  constellation,  both  of  the  fourth  magnitude,  have 
likewise  disappeared.  In  May,  1828,  Sir  John  Herschell  missed  (he  star  numbered 
42,  in  the  Constellation  Virgo,  whicli  has  never  since  been  seen.  Examples  might 
be  multiplied,  but  it  is  unnecessary.  In  these  cases,  tiie  stars  have  been  lost  entirely 
— no  return  has  ever  been  marked."  {Mitchell's  "  Planetary/  and  titeUar  Worlds," 
p.  294,  295.)  The  variable  star,  in  the  neck  of  the  whale,  called  "  Mira  Celi,"  changes 
from  the  second  magnitude  to  the  eleventh,  and  sometimes  vanishes  ALTOGt:TUER.  In 
the  173  years,  during  which  we  have  reports  of  the  magnitude  of  the  beautiful 
star,  "  JEt'i  of  Argo,"  it  has  undergone  from  eight  to  nine  oscillations,  in  the  aug- 
mentatiiin  and  diminution  of  its  light.  It  has  increased  from  the  fourth  to  the  first 
magnitude,  and  from  1838  to  1850,  has  remained  equal  in  brilliancy  to  Canopus — 
probably  superior — and  almost  equal  to  Sirius.  {See  JImnboldt's  "  Cosmos,"  vol.  ill 
p.  151-182.)  For  a  complete  list  of  new  and  of  "variable  stars,"  and  most  impor- 
tant conclusions  (derived  from  these  astonishing  phenomena)  regarding  tu^j  changes 

PAST     AND    FUTURE,    IN   THE    CONDITION   OF    OUR    OWN    SUN   AND   THE     OTHER   jixed    SfarS. 

Especially,  p.  164  and  181. 

"  The  star  Eta  of  Argus,''  says  Sir  J.  Herschell,  "  has  always  hitherto  been  re- 
garded as  a  star  of  the  second  magnitude ;  and  I  never  had  reason  to  suppose  it 
variable.  In  November  of  1837,  I  saw  it  as  unial.  Judge  of  my  surprise  to  rind,  on 
the  16th  of  December,  that  it  had  suddenly  become  a  star  of  the  first  magnitude, 
and  almost  equal  to  Rigel.  It  continued  to  increase.  Rigel  is  now  not  to  be  com- 
pared wiih  it;  it  e.xceeds  Arcturus,  and  is  very  near  equal  to  Alpha  Centauri,  being 
<it  the  moment  I  write,  the  fourth  star  in  the  heavens,  in  the  order  of  brightness." 


610  THE   IIAHMONY   OF   REVELATION 

2d.  Many  suns,  once  obscured  for  longer  or  shorter  periods — 
for  days,  or  centuries — have  been  re-illumined ;  while  others, 
which  once  shone  with  a  faint  and  feeble  light,  have  been  kindled 
up  into  ten-fold  brilliancy,  which  they  still  retain. 

3d.  The  period  of  obscuration  is  decided  by  causes,  whose 
agency  is  sometimes  regular ;  sometimes  totally  incalculable ; 
varying  from  the  duration  of  a  few  hours,  in  calculated  cases,  to 
one  hundred  years  in  some,  to  three  hundred  years,  probably^ 
in  others  ;  and  in  others  again  (unless  the  obscuration  be  final), 
extending  over  many  centuries ;  or  (to  use  the  strong  language 
of  Humboldt,  "  Cosmos"  vol.  iii.  p.  164)  "in  the  great  major- 
ity," over  "  extremehj  long,  and   therefore   iin?neasurecl,    and 

PROBABLY  UNDETERMINABLE   PERIODS."* 

For  conclusions  siniilar  to  those  of  Humboldt,  derived  from  the  same  phenomena, 
Bee  "  Outline.i  of  Astron."  p.  527,  and  "  Astron.  Observations,"  p.  351 ;  by  Sir  J. 
Herschell,  as  quoted  under  "  Propos."  6th  and  7th,  hereafter. 

*  More  thau  two  thousand  years  ago,  the  celebrated  Greek  astronomer  Hippar- 
chus  was  astonished  by  the  sudden  bursting  forth  of  a  brilliant  star  in  a  region  on 
the  heavens  where  none,  before,  existed.  In  1672,  1604,  1607,  and  recently  in 
1848,  similar  occurrences  took  place,  the  latter  being  less  remarkable  than  the  pre- 
ceding, for  the  exceeding  brilliancy  of  the  star.  Twenty-one  instances  are  enumer- 
ated by  Humboldt  ("  Cosmos,"  vol.  iii.  p.  155-160)  of  a  correspondent  character.  That 
of  1572,  called  "Tycho's  Star,"  because  observed  by  the  great  Danish  astronomer, 
was  the  most  remarkable.  It  burst  forth  instantaneously  in  the  full  blazo  of  its 
brightness.  The  very  peasants  paused  to  gaze  with  astonishment  upon  the  wonder- 
ful stranger  in  the  skies.  It  surpassed  Jupiter  in  brilliancy,  and  was  visible  in  the 
broad  light  of  day.  It  gradually  changed  from  white  to  yellow-reddish,  became 
faintly  blue,  then  disappeared  from  the  heavens,  and  has  never  since  been  seen. 
Herschell  supposes  that  it  may  be  identical  with  the  stars  seen  in  915  and  1264,  and 
thus  that  the  period  of  its  obscuration  is  a  little  more  than  three  hundred  years. 
(See  Tycho  Brache's  own  account  of  its  sudden  discovery,  and  variations.  "  Cosmos,'' 
vol.  iii.  p.  152, 153.)  The  period  of  variability  in  the  star  x  Cygni,  is  about  100  years. 
In  the  great  majority  of  these  cases,  the  stars  have  disappeared,  during  a  period, 
varying  from  250  to  1600  years,  and  are  either  finally  extinguished,  as  La  Place 
supposes,  or  have  vast  and  incalculable  periods  of  alternate  darliness,  and  reillumina- 
tion,  according  to  the  theory  of  Humboldt.  This  latter  writer  su]iposes  with  Her- 
schell, in  his  "  Astron.  Observations,"  that  variability,  and  not  uniformity,  in  the 
quantity  of  light,  is  the  common  character  of  sons.  "  We  are  led,"'  says  lie,  "  by 
analogy,  to  infer  that,  as  thk  fixed  stars  universally  have  not  merely  an  apparent 
but  a  real  motion  of  their  own,  so  their  surfaces  or  luminous  atmospheres  are  gen- 
erally subject  to  those  changes  (m  Iheir  '  light  process'),  which  recur,  in  the  great 
majority,  in  extremehj  long,  and  therefore  unmeasured,  and  probably  undcterminuble 
periods ;  or  whicli,  in  a  few,  recur  without  being  periodical,  as  it  were  by  a  sudden 
revolution,  either  for  a  shorter  or  a  longer  time."  (Vol.  iii.  p.  164.)  That  all  this  is 
equally  ,true  of  our  sun,  as  one  of  the  fixed  stars,  see  p.  180.  In  regard  to  a  sub- 
sequent re-illumination  of  a  sun  whose  light  has  tlius  disappeared,  he  says:  "  What 
we  no  longer  see  is  not  necessarily  annihilated.  It  is  merely  the  transition  of  matter 
into  new  forms — into  comuinations  which  are  subject  to  new  processes.  Dark,  cos- 
MiCAL  bodies  may,  BY  A  RENEWED  PROCESS  OF  LIGHT,  again  become  luminous.''  That 
Buch  a  body,  which  had  lost  its  light  for  centuries,  and  perhaps  myriads  of  years, 
may  be  re-illumined  (as  was  our  sun),  and  shine  on  again  as  it  did  before,  is  prac- 
tically proven  by  a  star  now  shining  in  our  sky,  called  34  Cygnus.  It  appeared,  for 
the  first  time  since  the  commencement  of  astronomical  records,  in  the  year  ICOO, 
and  still  remains  a  star  of  the  sixth  magnitude.  Was  it  first  created  in  1600?  Or 
was  it  only  invisible  till  then?    Had  it  been  always  invisible  ?     Or  like  the  stars  of 


AND  ]SrAT:,KAL  SCIENCE.  511 

4th.  The?e  changes,  whether  partial  or  entire,  cannot  be 
rational!}'  attributed;  aiie  not,  by  our  great  philosophers 
La  Place,  IIerschell,  Humboldt,  or  any  of  that  class  op 
THINKERS,  EVER  ATTRIBUTED,  to  gradual  changc  of  position, 
nearer,  or  more  remote.  They  remain  uniformly  stationary,  and 
in  almost  every  case  (^imth  only  three  exceptions)  these  new  stars 
blazed  fortii  at  once  with  unequalled  brilliancy,  as  stars  of  the 
first  magnitude.  "The  appearance  of  the  star  of  1572  was  so 
sudden,  that  Tycho  Brache,  the  celebrated  Danish  astronomer, 
returning  one  evening  from  his  laboratory  to  his  dwelling-house, 
was  surprised  to  find  a  group  of  country  people  gazing  at  a  star, 
which  he  was  sure  did  not  exist  (visibly)  half  an  hour 
BEFORE."  ("  Outlines  of  Astronomy  ^^^  p.  526,  by  Sir  J.  Herschell.)* 
5th.  Our  sun  is  one  of  these  fixed  stars;  and  whatever 
is  ascertained  as  certainly  true  of  them  as  to  their  constitution 
and  general  history,  may  be  assumed  a  p?-iori  as  probable  in  re- 
gard to  iiiin.  The  phenomena  upon  his  surface  ;  the  vast  extent 
and  probable  origin  of  his  spots — fifty  thousand  miles  in  diame- 
ter, and  generated  by  '•  the  play  of  sudden  and  tremendous  forces 
within  his  atmospheres  ;"  "the  surging  and  bursting  of  those  at- 
«inospheres"t  themselves;  the  certainty  of  these  changes  in  his 
state,  and  their  "undoubted  and  intimate  connection  with^  the 
supply  of  light  and  heat  to  our  globe,"  +  indicate  the  presence  of 
agencies  which  identify  him  in  character  and  destiny  with  the 
great  central  suns  of  other  systems.  Again,  those  extraordinary 
changes  in  the  climate  of  our  globe,  so  great  that  the  fossil  re- 
mains of  the  remotest  north  are  said  to  indicate  a  tropical  atmos- 
phere ;  so  sudden,  that  the  animals  of  an  earlier  era  have  been 
arrested  where  they  stood,  and  embalmed  in  perpetual  ice  ; — these 
indubitable  changes  have  directed  the  attention  of  our  most  emi- 


Flarasted's  Catnlngue,  observed  by  the  Herschell'a.  had  it  disappeared  for  a  season, 
to  reappear  in  its  appointed  time?     If  the  latter  be  the  reasonable   supposition, 

TriEN  IT  FURNI.^IIES,  "  MUTATO  NOMINE,"  THE  HISTORY  OK  OUR  SUN. 

*  "Those  stars,"  says  La  Place,  "that  have  become  invisible,  after  havin^  sur- 
passed the  brilliancy  of  .Jupiter,  have  not  changed  their  place  during  the  time  of 
their  being  visible."  "The  luminous  process  in  thejn  has  simply  ceased,"  adds 
Humboldt,  and  in  confirmation  of  this  view,  further  urges  (page  101),  '■  The  circum- 
stance, that  almost  all  these  new  stars  burst  forth  at  once  with  extreme  brilliancy, 
as  stars  of  the  first  magnitude,  and  even  with  still  strongee.  scintillation,  and  that 
they  do  not  appear,  at  least  to  the  naked  eye,  to  increase  gradually  in  brightness." 
The  theory  of  "  cosmical  clouds,"  intercepting  for  centuries,  the  light  of  thepe  distant 
bodies,  is  now  abandoned,  and  Herschell  unites  with  La  Place,  and  Humboldt,  and 
Nicholl,  and  his  own  distinguished  father,  in  recognizing  an  actual  change  in  the 
light  and  Iirat  of  tiie  fixed  stars. 

f  NichoU's  Plan.  Si/s.,  p.  820.  X  Herecheirs  Astron.,  p.  228. 


612  THE  HARMONY  OF  EEVELATION 

nent  astronomers  to  a  cause  connected  with  variations  in  the  light 
and  heat  of  our  sun.  Speaking  of  the  "singular  and  surprising 
alterations  of  brightness  in  the  southern  star,"  called  Eta  of  Argos, 
Sir  John  Herschell  says,  "  All  at  once,  in  the  beginning  of  1838, 
it  suddenly  increased  in  lustre,  so  as  to  surpass  all  the  stars  of  the 
first  class  in  magnitude,  except  Sirius  and  Canopus,  and  Alpha 
Centauri,  vvfiich  last  star  it  nearly  equalled.  Thence  it  again 
diminished  (but  this  time  not  below  the  first  magnitude)  until 
April,  1843,  when  it  had  again  increased  so  as  to  surpass  Canopus, 
and  nearly  equal  Sirius  in  splendor."  "  Here  \ve  have,"  he  pro- 
ceeds, "  a  star  fitfully  variable  to  an  astonishing  extent,  and  whose 
fiuctuations  (previously  noticed  by  him)  are  spread  over  centuries, 
apparently  in  no  settled  period,  and  with  no  regularity  of  progres- 
sion. What  origin  can  we  ascribe  to  these  sudden  flashes  and 
relapses?  What  conclusions  are  we  to  draw  as  to  the  comfort 
and  habitability  of  a  system,  depending  for  its  supply  of  light  and 
heat  on  so  uncertain  a  source?  Speculations  of  this  kind  can 
hardly  be  termed  visionary,  when  we  consider  that  we  are  com- 
pelled to  admit  a  community  of  nature  between  the  fixed  stars 
and  our  own  sun;  and  when  we  reflect  that  geology  testifies  to 
the  fact  of  extensive  changes  having  taken  place  at  epochs  of  the 
mo^t  remote  antiquit}'^  in  the  climate  and  temperature  of  our 
globe — changes  difficult  to  reconcile  with  the  operation  of  sec- 
ondary causes,  such  as  a  different  distribution  of  sea  and  land, 
but  which  would  find  an  easy  and  natural  explanation  in  a  slow 
variation  of  the  supply  of  light  and  heat  afforded  primarily  by 
the  sun  himself."  {^^Outlities,"  p.  527,528.)  Here,  then,  we  find 
that  the  greatest  astronomer  of  this  age  asserts  the  indisputable 
"community  of  nature  between  our  own  sun  and  the  fixed  stars;" 
and  from  the  "surprising  and  singular"  changes  in  even  one  of 
them,  deduces  the  strong  probability  of  analogous  ciianges  in  the 
sun.  Then  turning  to  the  surface  of  our  earth,  and  the  organic 
remains  beneath  the  surface,  he  finds  in  the  geologic  monuments 
a  practical  confirmation  of  the  views  to  which  astronomy  had  led 
him.  The  conclusion  thus  attained  from  two  independent  sciences, 
and  doubly  confirmed  by  their  harmonious  combination  in  one  as- 
tonishing result,  gives  direct  and  important  confirmation  to  the 
Mosaic  record.  It  tells  us  that  our  sun  is,  in  astronomic  phrase, 
"a  variable  star,"  and  as  such,  liable  to  all  those  changes  which 
have  been  noticed  amongst  them ;  and  if  the  Bible  says  "  this 
variable  star  once  lost  for  a  season  its  light-giving  power,"  As- 


AND  IN'ATUKAL  SCIENCE.  513 

tronomy  replies,  "It  is  extremely  probable  (hat  such  an  event 
may  have  occurred;  for  every  degree  and  kind  of  variation,  from 
a  slight  diminution  of  light  to  total  extinction,  from  a  slow  and 
gradual  increase  to  a  sudden  outburst  of  unparalleled  magnifi- 
cence, has  been  witnessed  already  within  the  brief  space,  and  with 
the  imperfect  instruments,  of  three  short  centuries  of  observation. 
Such  a  change,  moreover,  in  the  light  and  heat  of  our  sun  would 
^naturally  and  easily  e.vplahi'  the  otherwise  inexplicable  plie- 
nomena  which  Geology  has  recorded,  but  in  vain  attempted  to 
elucidate."  (See  to  the  same  purpose,  "  Cos7?ios,'"  vol.  iii.  p.  181. 
Mrs.  Somerville's  "  Connection  of  the  Physical  Sciences^^^  p.  407. 
NicholVs  ^'•Planetary  System,^^  p.  341,  Note.) 

Cth.  Astronomy  has  gone  farther  still  in  confirmation  of  the 
Bible  ;  and  not  only  asserted  the  possibility  and  probability  of 
such  an  obscuration  of  our  sun,  but  combining  these  phenomena 
in  (he  sun  and  the  fixed  stars  with  those  observed  upon  the  earth, 
has  asserted  such  an  event  as  an  actual  occurrence ;  and  proceed- 
ing to  ascertain  its  geologic  epoch,  has  identified  it  with  that  great 
geologic  event  which  (according  to  Mr.  Agazziz)  terminated  the  ter- 
tiary period — destroyed  all  previously  existing  animated  beings,  and 
introduced  the  fourth  great  era — The  Reign  of  Man.  It  is 
to  this  era  of  darkness,  and  consequently  universal  ice,  when  the 
light  and  heat  of  our  sun  were  together  withdrawn,  that  Mr.  Hers- 
chell  alludes  in  the  following  decisive  passage: — "I  cannot  other- 
wise understand"  {loithoiit  a  general  "  change  of  climate^'')  alterna- 
fions  of  heat  and  cold  so  extensive  as  at  one  period  to  have  clothed 
high  northern  latitudes  with  a  more  than  tropical  luxuriance  of 
vegetation,  at  another  to  have  buried  vast  tracts  of  Middle  Europe, 
now  enjoying  a  genial  climate,  and  smiling  with  fertility,  under  a 
glacier  crust  of  enormous  thickness.  Such  changes  seem  to  point 
to  causes  more  powerful  than  the  mere  local  distribution  of  land 
and  water  (according  to  Mr.  Lyell's  views)  can  well  be  supposed  to 
have  been.  In  the  slow  secular  variations  of  our  supply  of  light 
and  heat  from  the  sun,  which,  in  the  immensity  of  time 

PAST,  MAY  HAVE  GONE  TO  ANY  EXTENT,  AND  SUCCEEDED  EACH 

other  in  any  order,  without  violating  the  analogy  of  sidereal 
phenomena  which  we  know  to  have  taken  place,  we  have  a 
cause,  not  indeed  established  as  a  fact,  but  readily  admissible  as 
something  beyond  a  bare  possibility, /"^/Z/y  adequate  to  the  utmost 
requirements  of  geology.  A  change  of  half  a  magnitude  in  the 
lustre  of  the  sun  regarded  as  a  fixed  star,  spread  over  successive 

33 


514  THE   HARMONY    OF   JIEVELATION 

geological  epochs,  now  progressive — now  receding — now  station- 
ary— is  what  no  astronomer  iirould  now  hesitate  to  admit  as  a 
'perfectly  reasonable,  and  not  improbable  supposition.^^  {^''  Astro- 
nom,ical  Observations,^^  p.  351.  1847.)  These  views,  suggested 
first  by  La  Place  and  Herschell  (Sir  WilHam),  and  thus  developed 
and  applied  by  Sir  John  in  1847,  have  entered  since  into  the  gen- 
eral mind,  and  received  the  approbation  of  the  most  eminent  men 
of  science,  "  The  probabl}'^  great  physical  similarity  in  the  pro- 
cess of  light  in  all  self-luminous  stars  (in  the  central  body  of  our 
own  planetary  system,  and  in  the  distant  suns  or  fixed  stars),  has 
long  and  justly  directed  attention  to  the  importance  and  signifi- 
cance which  attach  to  the  periodical  or  non-periodical  variation  in 
the  light  of  the  stars  in  reference  to  the  varying  temperature  which 
our  earth  has  derived  in  the  course  of  thousands  of  years  from 
the  radiation  of  the  sun.  Supposing  that  our  sun  has  passed 
through  only  a  very  few  of  those  variations  in  intensity  of  light 
and  heat,  either  in  an  increasing  or  decreasing  ratio  (and  why 
SHOULD  IT  DIFFER  FROM  OTHER  SUNS?),  such  a  change — such  a 
weakening  or  augmentation  of  its  light-process,  may  account 
for  far  greater  and  more  fearful  results  for  our  own  planet  than 
any  required  for  the  explanation  of  all  geognostic  relations  and 
ancient  telluric  revolutions."  ("  Cosnios,^^  vol.  iii.  p.  181,  182.)  It 
will  here  be  seen,  that  both  Herschell  and  Humboldt  connect  the 
explanation  of  these  geological  facts  with  changes  in  the  light 
and  heat  of  the  sun  ; — that  these  changes  may  have  been  "  to  any 
EXTENT,  AND  IN  ANY  ORDER,"  for,  exclaims  Humboldt,  "  Why 
should  it  differ  from  other  suns  ?" — that  here  is  "  a  cause,"  not 
otherwise  ^^established  as  a  fact"  but  the  only  cause  known,  and 
*^ fully  adequate'''  to  the  effect ;  and  the  supposition  of  which,  every 
astronomer  must  admit  lo  be  both  "reasonable  and  not  improba- 
ble." The  era  of  the  change,  or  last  obscuration,  is  the  glacier 
period  of  Agazziz — the  chaotic  period  of  Moses.  "A  period  of 
universal  darkness  and  universal  DEATH,"  says  the  one  ; 

'•A   PERIOD  OF  UNIVERSAL    DEATH,  AND    UNIVERSAL    COLD,  AND 

icj:  almost  universal,"  responds  the  other.  "A  temporary  ces- 
sation of  the  sun's  radiant  light  and  heat  considered  as  a  fixed 
i'/flrr,"  sajrs  Moses.  "Their  luminous  surfaces  are  gener- 
ally subject  to  those  changes  at  extremely  long,  probably  un- 
determinable periods;"  and  "Why  should  he  differ  from  other 
suns?"  repHeo  Humboldt.  "From  'Tycho's  star,'  which  has  not 
^kfiwe  during  almost  three  hundred  years?     From  Kepler's  star 


AND   NATURAL   SCIENCE.  515 

of  1604,  for  two  centuries  and  a  half  totally  obscured?  From 
the  star  34  Cygnus,  which,  after  being  obscured  since  the  earUest 
records  of  astronomy,  '  through  unmeasured  periods,'  was  re- 
ilkunined  two  hundred  and  fifty  years  ago,  and  still  shines  on 
a  star  of  the  sixth  magnitude  in  the  heavens ;  an  indisputable 
instance  of  a  sun  for  centuries,  totally  extinguished,  and  already 
entered,  once  more,  on  a  new  career  of  light?" 

7th.  Should  any  one  doubt  the  certainty  of  the  conclusion  (in 
regard  to  the  supposed  connection  between  these  geological  and 
astronomical  phenomena),  derived  by  these  distinguished  phi- 
losophers from  the  facts  and  the  principles  above  adduced  ;  let 
it  be  remarked,  that  this  does  not  even  impair,  much  less  can  it 
neutralize,  the  force  of  our  reasoning.  For  the  doubt  affects,  not 
the  general  facts  and  principles  (these  are  assumed  as  indis- 
putable), BUT  THEIR.  APPLICATION  ;  viz.  to  explain  phenomena 
which  some  may  suppose  to  be  capable  of  a  plausible  explana- 
tion (though  none  can  say  it  is  completely  satisfactory)  on  other 
grounds.  But  if  there  be  the  slightest  probability  in  their  hypoth- 
esis, then  it  all  enures  to  the  advantage  of  the  Christian  argu- 
ment ;  and  is  another  instance  of  corroborative  harmony,  where 
ignorance  had  asserted  absolute  contradiction. 

Is  it  said,  "  These  are  but  the  bold  conjectures  of  adventurous 
and  daring  minds,  pushing  their  speculations  into  a  region  where 
all  is  uncertainty,  at  best."  The  objection  proceeds  from  igno- 
rance, but  we  answer — 1st.  What  is  it  that  has  thus  become  so 
suddenly  uncertain  ?  Is  it,  "that  our  sun  is  one  of  the  fixed 
stars,  and  the  fixed  stars  are  suns?  That  these  suns  are  subject 
to  prodigious  changes — vast  in  extent  and  duration — passing  from 
dazzling  brilliancy  to  dimness,  and  ultimate  invisibility,  now 
fading  utterly  away,  after  being  seen  for  centuries  ;  now  blazing 
up  instantaneously,  and  continuing  to  shine  for  ages?  That 
these  changes  are  sometimes  regular,  at  others  irregular ;  some 
observed  and  known  to  return  after  calculated  intervals  ;  others, 
extending  over  periods  so  vast  as  to  elude  human  observation  and 
baffle  human  scrutiny,  and  that  this  is  the  common  character  of 
sunsT'  Now  if  all  this  be  uncertain,  then  astronomy  is  all 
an  illusion,  and  the  telescope  an  instrument  of  falsehood  and  of 
folly.  But  how  can  such  an  illusion  shake  the  firm  foundations 
of  our  faith? 

2d.  When  science  has  spent  her  centuries  of  laborious  investi 
gation,  and  at  last  comes  forth  with  the  highest  speculations  of 


516  THE   HAKMONY   OF   KEVELATION 

her  higliest  minds,  and  religion  accepts  her  theory  as  probable, 
and  appropriates  her  speculation,  shall  she  then  recoil  from  her 
own  conclusions,  and  renounce  her  sublimest  theories  of  nature, 
because  they  are  found  to  coincide  with  the  revelations  of  the 
God  of  nature?     Is  not  their  harmony  a  mutual  confirmation? 

3d.  Is  it  an  argument  against  the  credibility  of  Moses,  that, 
after  three  thousand  years  of  physical  inquiry,  and  with  all  the 
improved  instruments  of  modern  times  ;  the  theory,  the  specula- 
lion,  THE  CONJECTURE,  IP  YOU  PLEASE,  which  is  most  probable, 
which  appears  most  consistent  with  all  the  ascertained  phenomena, 
is  precisely  that  which  furnishes,  if  true,  the  most  instructive  com- 
mentary on  his  ancient  narrative? 

Let  us  briefly  review  the  argument.  The  objection  has  been 
taken  not  from  the  ribald  ignorance  of  Paine,  but  from  the  calm, 
coo!,  contemptuous  irony  of  German  learning,  as  it  smiles  from 
its  sublime  and  serene  elevation,  upon  the  simple  credulity  of 
"the  early  AGES."     It  objccls, 

1st.  Tliat  according  to  Moses,  ligjit  appears  to  be  "  of  a  fluid 
NATURE."  We  have  shown  that  the  "undulatory"  or  "wave- 
theory"  of  light,  sustained  as  it  is,  by  the  experiments  of  Prof. 
Airy,  and  the  reasoning  of  Herschell,  and  confirmed  by  the  in- 
vestigations of  our  own  Prof.  Henry,  is  now  the  accepted  theory 
amongst  scientific  men.  That  "  light  is  produced  by  a  series  of 
vibrations  of  a  subtle Jluid." 

2d.  Tliat,  originally,  "it  docs  not  proceed  from  the  sun."  We 
have  shown  that  it  is  wholly  independent  of  the  sun,  that  it 
'•  pervades  all  space,  and  even  the  interior  of  all  bodies  ;"  and 
wherever  any  of  the  various  circumstances  exist,  which  are  capable 
of  producing  these  ^^ peculiar  vibrations,^'  there  light  exists. 

3d.  We  have  shown  that  the  sun  is  not  light,  but  "  a  light- 
bearer."  Himself  a  dark  body,  receiving  light  from  the  same 
'•luminous  atmosphere"  which  illuminates  our  earth. 

4lii.  That  the  unknown  agencies  necessary  to  the  develop- 
ment of  light  in  our  own  sun,  and  the  other  fixed  stars,  are  vari- 
able, indefinitely,  both  in  intensity  and  duration;  their  light 
alternately  increasing  and  diminishing;  suspended  altogether 
and  afterwards  revived;  and  these  changes  extended  over  periods 
of  calculable,  and  others  of  uncalculated  length. 

Sti).  The  Bible  records  one  of  these,  which  occurred  six  thou- 
sand years  ago.  Astronomy,  many  precisely  similar,  within  the 
last  tliree  hundred  years. 


AND   NATURAL   SCIENCE.  517 

6tb.  Astronomy  sees,  even  now,  in  the  "luminous  atmos- 
pheres" of  the  sun,  traces  of  the  agency  of  tremendous  forces, 
which  lay  bare  its  dark  surface  for  many  hundred  thousand 
square  miles  in  extent,  and  operate  upon  a  scale  of  magnificence, 
to  which  terrestrial  phenomena  present  no  parallel.  '*The  play 
of  sudden,  tremendous,  and  evanescent  forces,  either  connected 
with  the  solid  body  of  the  sun,  or  generated  within  his  atmos- 
pheres, and  made  apparent  by  the  sur-ging  and  bursting  of  those 
atmospheres,  has  become,"  says  Nicholl,  "  an  absolute  fact." 

7th.  The  earth,  too,  is  one  of  those  astronomic  worlds ;  and 
geology  has  discovered  evidences  of  variations  in  her  climate, 
precisel}'  corresponding  to  these  supposed  variations  in  the  sun, 
that  is,  just  such  a  change  in  her  temperature,  as  those  changes 
in  the  sun's  light  and  heat  would  naturally  and  necessarily  pro- 
duce; and  the  last  great  change  thus  asserted  by  geology,  is  said 
to  have  terminated  the  former  geologic  era,  and  prepared  the  earth 
for  man.  It  corresponds  of  course  with  the  Mosaic  chaos ;  and 
we  need  hardly  say,  that  such  a  revolution  in  the  condition  of  the 
sun,  would  necessarily  involve  the  most  terrific  consequences  to 
our  world. 

Thus  have  we  passed  in  rapid  review  many  of  the  most  won- 
derful discoveries,  and  loftiest  speculations  of  modern  science,  and 
have  everywhere  found  that  the  progress  of  knowledge  has  con- 
verted the  infidel  objection  into  a  real  harmony.  Did  our  limits 
permit,  it  would  be  easy  to  point  out  other  coincidences  equally 
remarkable,  and  to  answer  other  plausible  objections.  But,  if 
these  greater  difficulties  (by  many  supposed  to  be  insuperable) 
have  been  really  removed,  then  the  subordinate  objections  will 
spontaneously  disappear.  We  cannot  more  appropriately  con- 
clude this  prolonged  discussion  than  by  quoting  the  following 
striking  and  just  remarks  of  an  eloquent  contemporary  writer : 
"There  is,  then,  no  physical  error  in  the  Scriptures,  and  this 
great  fact  becomes  always  more  admirable  in  proportion  as  it  is 
more  closely  contemplated.  Never  will  you  find  a  single  sen- 
tence in  opposition  to  the  just  notions  which  science  has  imparted 
to  us,  concerning  the  form  of  our  globe,  its  magnitude,  and  its 
geology,  upon  the  void,  and  upon  space,  upon  the  planets  and 
their  masses,  their  courses,  their  dimensions,  or  their  influences, 
upon  the  suns  which  people  the  depths  of  space,  upon  their 
numl)er,  their  nature,  their  im,  tensity.     You  shall  not  find  one 


518  THE   HARMONY   OF   REVELATION 

of  the  authors  of  the  Bible,  who  has  in  speaking  of  the  visible 
world,  let  fall  from  his  pen  one  only  of  those  sentences  which  in 
other  books  contradict  the  reality  of  facts ;  none  who  makes  the 
heavens  a  firmament,  as  do  the  Seventy — St.  Jerome,  and  all  the 
Fathers  of  the  church;  none  who  makes  the  world,  as  Plato  did, 
an  inteUigent  animal ;  none  who  reduces  everything  below  to 
the  four  physical  elements  of  the  ancients ;  not  one  who  has 
spoken  of  the  mountains  as  Mahomet  did,  of  the  cosmogony  as 
Buffon,  of  the  antipodes  as  Lucretius,  as  Plutarch,  as  Pliny,  as 
Lactantius,  as  St.  Augustine,  as  the  Pope  Zachary.  When  the 
Scriptures  speak  of  the  form  of  the  earth  they  make  it  a  globe. 
When  they  speak  of  the  position  of  this  globe  in  the  bosom  of 
the  universe,  they  suspend  it  upon  nothing.  When  they 
speak  of  its  age,  not  only  do  they  put  its  creation  as  well  as  that 
of  the  heavens,  in  the  "beginning,"  that  is,  before  the  ages  which 
they  cannot  or  will  not  number ;  but  they  are  also  careful  to 
place  it  before  the  breaking  up  of  chaos  and  the  creation  of  man, 
the  creation  of  angels,  of  archangels,  of  principalilies  and  powers  ; 
their  trial ;  the  fall  of  some,  and  their  ruin,  the  perseverance  of 
other.«,  and  their  glory.  When  they  speak  of  the  heavens,  they 
employ  to  designate  and  to  define  them  the  most  philosophic  and 
the  most  elegant  expression,  an  expression  which  the  Greeks,  in 
the  Septuagint  translation,  the  Latin  Vulgate,  and  all  the  Chris 
tian  Fathers  in  their  discourses,  have  pretended  to  improve,  and 
which  they  have  distorted,  because  it  seemed  to  them,  opposed  to 
the  science  of  their  day.  The  heavens  in  the  Bible  are  "  the 
EXPANSE,"  they  are  the  vacant  space,  or  ether,  or  immensity, 
and  not  the  "firmamentum,"  of  Jerome,  nor  the  "are^fw^a,"  of 
the  Alexandrian  interpreters,  nor  the  eighth  heaven,  firm,  solid^ 
crystalline  and  incorruptible,  of  Aristotle  and  of  all  the  ancients. 
And  although  the  Hebrew  term  so  remarkable,  recurs  seventeen 
times  in  the  Old  Testament,  and  the  Seventy  have  rendered  it 
seventeen  times,  by  "aTf^tw/za"  (firmament),  never  have  the  Scrip- 
tures in  the  New  Testament  used  this  expression  of  the  Greek 
interpreters  in  this  sense.  When  they  speak  of  the  air,  the  grav- 
ity of  which  was  unknown  before  Galileo,  they  tell  us  that  at  the 
creation  "God  gave  to  the  air  its  weight,  and  to  the  waters, 
their  just  measure"  (Job  xxviii.  25).  When  they  speak  of  the  light, 
they  present  it  to  us  as  an  element  independent  of  the  sun,  and 
as  anterior  by  three  epochs,  to  the  period  in  which  that  luminary 
was  formed.     When  they  speak  of  the  interior  state  of  our  globe. 


AND  NATURAL  SCIENCE.  *  519 

they  leach  us  that  while  its  surface  gives  us  bread,  beneath,  it 
IS  ON  FIRE  (Job  xxvih.  5).  When  they  speak  of  the  mountains, 
they  distinguish  them  as  primary  and  secondary,  they  represent 
them  as  being  born,  they  make  them  rise^  they  make  them  melt 
hke  wax ;  they  abase  the  valleys  ;  they  speak  as  a  geological 
poet  of  our  day  would  do,  "  The  mountains  were  lifted  up 
(elevated),  O  Lord ;  the  valleys  were  abased  [Hebrew,  "  de- 
scended'^), in  the  place  which  though  hadst  assigned  them." 
(Ps.  civ.  8.)  ("  Gaussen,  Theopneusty ^^  p.  144,  148.)  Let  the 
Christian,  therefore,  never  fear  the  scrutiny  of  science.  The 
word  and  the  works  of  God  must  ever  be  in  harmony.  True 
theology  is  the  interpretation  of  his  word :  real  science  is  the  in- 
terpretation of  his  works.  In  both  the  divine  record  is  unerring 
truth.  In  both,  alike,  the  human  interpretation  not  only  is  liable 
to  error,  but  must  often  be  defective. 

Let  these  considerations  check,  at  once,  the  audacity  of  skep- 
tical philosophy,  and  the  intolerance  of  religious  bigotry.  Let 
religion  continue,  as  she  has  ever  been,  the  patroness  of  science, 
and  science  will  remain  the  handmaid  of  religion.  The  edicts  of 
the  Pope  have  not  stopped  the  revolutions  of  the  earth  in  its  orbit, 
nor  the  philosophy  of  Hume  erased  from  our  geological  strata  their 
innumerable  miracles.  Geology  will  still  date  the  termination  of 
her  old  formations  from  the  extinct  species  they  contain,  and  the 
commencement  of  the  newer  from  the  period,  when  "  a  creation 
entirely  new  had  succeeded  universal  decay  and  death  ;"  though 
some  modern  Epicurus  should  dream  of  new  species  springing 
into  life  "  in  retired  places."  The  earth  will  still  be  heaved  by 
its  volcanic  fires,  the  moon  still  present  her  ragged  edges  and  her 
s'hattered  froiTt,  to  human  observation  ;  stars  will  still  blaze  into 
sudden  brightness,  and  pass  away  into  invisibility  ;  the  mighty 

REVOLUTIONS,  ABOVE,  AROUND,  BENEATH  US,  wiU  Still    mOVC    OU 

in  their  sublime  and  mysterious  progress,  towards  their  destined 
consummation,  though  man  in  his  ignorance  should  still  exclaim, 
"  Since  the  Fathers  fell  asleep  all  things  remain  as  they  were 
from  the  beginning  of  the  creation."  Nature  will  still  remain 
with  her  unfathomable  mysteries,  and  God  with  his  infinite  and 
incomprehensible  perfections,  and  man  with  his  boundless  aspira- 
tions, his  deathless  hopes,  his  inextinguishable  conscience,  his 
rational  and  immortal  nature.     The   ransient  theories  of  a  day, 


520  •  THE   HARMONY   OF   REVELATION 

time  will  destroy  :  but  truth  and  right  are  imperishable 

AND  eternal. 


Note. — In  preparing  these  discourses  for  the  press,  the  author 
nas  been  under  the  necessity  of  choosing  between  the  total  omission 
of  one  topic,  and  such  an  abbreviation  of  the  whole,  as  would  have 
been  injurious  to  each  portion  separately,  and  marred  the  combined 
impression  of  them  all.  He  has,  with  some  hesitation,  chosen  the 
latter  alternative,  and  omitted  the  discussion  in  regard  tp  the 
"  Mosaic  DELUGE."  This  is  the  less  regretted,  as  the  belief  of 
other  deluges  past  and  to  come,  is  now  a  part  of  the  settled 
geologic  creed,  and  therefore  leaves  that  particular  historical  deluge 
within  its  own  appropriate  sphere  of  historical  evidence.  How 
complete,  decisive,  universal,  is  that  historical  testimony,  no 
well-informed  man,  needs,  at  this  day,  to  learn. 


t.n^   O-t^. 


t 


■%'■- 


»W 


m- 


Cjjt  liffiniltieH  nf  Snfihlitij, 


BEV.   STUART  EOBINSON, 

yEANKFORT,    KY 


524  THE   DIFFICULTIES   OF   INFIDELITY. 

the  credulity  which  humbly  receives  and  believes  the  truth  ;  and 
glorying  in  their  own  imagined  Pyrrhonism  ;  they  are  given  over 
— not  to  the  utter  incredulity  which  can  believe  nothing,  but  on 
the  contrary,  to  the  incorrigible  and  stupid  credulity  which  caa 
"  believe  a  lie." 

It  is  the  most  remarkable  feature  of  this  description  of  infidelity, 
that  there  is  ascribed  to  it  the  very  absurdities  which  it  has  ever 
been  the  fashion  of  infidelity  to  charge  upon  believers  of  the  "  truth 
as  it  is  in  Jesus  ;"  insomuch  that  one  unacquainted  with  the  au- 
thorship of  this  portion  of  Scripture,  might  well  mistake  it  for  the 
jeii  d'esprit  of  some  ingenious  philosophical  essayist  retorting  upon 
modern  skeptics,  in  cutting  satire,  their  own  charges.  And  while 
those  passages  suggest  very  obviously  the  particular  points  of  at- 
tack against  infidelity,  they  suggest  no  less  obviously,  as  the  gen- 
eral method  of  warfare,  the  plan  of  holding  the  advocates  of  infi- 
delity responsible  for  some  positive  system  of  faith  ;  and  then 
demanding  that  they  show  the  consistency  of  this  system  with 
itself,  with  right  reason,  and  with  truth.  Instead  of  confining 
'themselves  to  a  mere  defence  of  their  stronghold,  the  advocates  of 
Christianity  should  often  by  a  bold  and  vigorous  sally,  assail  the 
enemy  in  his  lurking-place,  and  seek  to  drive  him  from  his  "  ref- 
uge of  lies,"  with  utter  and  hopeless  discomfiture. 

The  disadvantages  of  acting  merely  on  the  defensive  for  Chris- 
tianity, are  twofold.  In  the  first  place,  it  relieves  infidelity  from 
its  just  responsibility  to  the  laws  of  logical  consistenc}'.  It  allows 
to  infidels  the  comparatively  easy  task  of  pulling  down,  without 
ever  being  called  upon  io  build  up.  But  more  especially,  is  this 
method  of  acting  entirely  on  the  defensive  unfortunate,  in  that 
it  gives  currency  to  the  very  erroneous  notion  that  Christianity 
is  peculiar  for  the  difl[iculties  that  attend  faith  in  its  doctrines. 
And  the  young  and  unwary,  puzzled  by  the  suggestion  of  myste- 
ries and  difl[iculties  in  the  faith,  which  in  childhood  they  have 
received  upon  trust,  and  captivated  by  the  aflfectation  of  superior 
shrewdness  and  wisdom,  with  which  infidelity  sneers  at  the  mys- 
teries of  this  faith,  are  seduced  from  their  steadfastness  and 
led  on  step  by  step,  at  length  niuiie  shipwreck  of  their  hope. 

It  is  true,  the  very  title  "  Infidelity'''  by  which  we  characterize 
generally  the  various  forms  of  opposition  to  Christianity,  indicates 
something  merely  negative.  But  the  denial  of  the  truth  of  Chris- 
tianity is  uniformly  connected  with  some  system  or  other  of  faith 
with  which  Christianity  is  supposed  to  conflict.     Even  were  it  not 


THE   DIFFICULTIES   OF   INFIDELITY.  525 

SO,  has  it  ever  been  shown  that  by  any  law  of  reason,  or  by  any  ap- 
pointiuent  of  God,  one  class  of  philosophers  have  it  as  their  pecu- 
liar office  to  pull  clown  and  to  destroy,  vi^ithout  ever  building  up? 
If  there  is  any  obligation  on  the  more  learned  portion  of  men  to  en- 
Kghten  their  fellows,  that  obhgation  lies  no  less  upon  those  who 
reject  than  upon  those  who  receive  Christianity.  It  is  not  therefore 
enough  to  prove  Christianity  unworthy  the  credence  of  men.  Es- 
pecially is  this  not  enough  on  the  part  of  those  who  have  set  them- 
selves up  as  professedly  "  the  wise" — as  a  class  claiming  to  be  the 
j)hilosophers,  and  the  peculiar  guardians  of  the  mental  and  moral 
interests  of  mankind. 

Adopting  the  method  here  suggested  by  the  Apostle,  of  holding 
infidelity  responsible  for  the  reasonableness  and  consistency  of  the 
faith  for  the  world  which  it  will  substitute  instead  of  Christian- 
ity— and  pursuing  the  general  tenor  of  the  topics  of  aninmdver- 
sion  suggested  in  his  view  of  the  origin  and  tendencies  of  infidel- 
ity, I  propose  to  consider: 

I.  The  difficulties  of  infidelity  in  devising  a  system  of  theolog}'', 
which  shall  answer  the  inquiries  and  meet  the  wants  of  man's 
spiritual  nature. 

II.  The  difficulties  of  infidelity  in  devising  a  system  of  ethics 
which  shall  be  of  purity,  force  and  obligation  sufficient  to  restrain 
and  guide  man  as  a  social  being,  and  render  possible  the  exist 
ence  of  civilized  society. 

III.  The  difficulties  of  infidelity  as  a  logical  system — in  its  ap- 
plication of  the  laws  of  evidence  to  the  question  of  the  credibility 
of  the  gospel ;  and  in  constructing  any  theory  on  which  to  account 
for  the  phenomena  of  the  present  existence  of  the  gospel  records 
and  the  religion  founded  upon  them,  faith  in  which  theory  does 
not  involve  the  most  preposterous  credulity. 

These  vievv's  of  the  subject  comprehend  generally  the  great  as 
pects  of  the  question  of  religion — as  a  question  of  theology,  what 
man  shall  believe  of  God — as  a  question  of  ethics,  what  man 
shall  practise  toward  man — as  an  existing  phenomenon  which 
man,  as  a  philosopher,  desires  to  account  for.  And  these  three 
aspects  of  the  question  embrace  particularly  the  very  points  on 
which  infidelity,  both  ancient  and  modern,  has  assailed  Christi- 
anity. The  substance  of  the  objections  to  Christianity  relates  to 
iheMinreasonableness  of  the  gospel  theology,  the  impracticability 
of  the  gospel  ethics,  and  the  insufficiency,  or  logical  inconsistency, 
of  the  gospel  evidences.     The  method  of  argument  here  proposed 


626  THE   DIFFICULTIES   OF   INFIDELITY, 

assumes,  that  if  the  gospel  theolog-y  is  unworthy  of  the  faith  of 
men.  then — since  some  rehgious  faith  is  necessary  to  man — infi- 
dehty  should  not  only  demonstrate  the  unworthiness  of  this  creed, 
but  supply  mankind  with  a  more  worthy  in  its  stead.  If  the  gos- 
pel ethics  are  impracticable,  infidelity  should  not  only  demonstrate 
this,  but  also — since  society  must  have  some  system — devise  a 
more  practical  ethics  in  its  stead.  If  the  records  of  the  Christian 
faith  and  the  church  founded  upon  them,  have  not,  as  they  pro- 
fess to  have,  their  origin  in  the  inspiration  of  God,  and  their  pres- 
ervation by  the  providence  of  God,  then  infidelity  should  not  only 
demonstrate  the  negative  of  this,  but  give  the  world  some  reason- 
able account  of  so  remarkable  a  phenomena, — admitted  on  all 
hands  to  exist. 

Lest,  however,  the  justness  of  this  assumption  may  not  at  once 
be  clear  to  the  apprehension  of  any,  it  may  not  be  improper  here 
to  illustrate  the  true  state  of  the  question — especially  in  regard  to 
the  first  and  second  topics  proposed,  viz. :  The  obligation  resting 
on  those  who  reject  Christianity,  to  provide  some  better  theology 
and  ethics  for  the  guidance  of  mankind. 

Man  is  by  nature  a  religious  creature,  and  therefore  must  have 
a  faith  and  worship  of  some  fashion.  Whether  reasoning  a  pi^iori 
from  the  nature  of  man,  or  reasoning  from  an  induction  of  facts 
in  the  history  of  the  race,  we  arrive  with  equal  certainty  at  the 
conclusion  that  man  must  have  a  religion.  It  is  a  truth,  patent 
upon  the  very  surface  of  human  nature,  that  all  men  have  a  per- 
ception of  moral  distinction  ;  that  they  judge  of  actions  not  only 
as  wise  and  unwise,  but  as  right  and  wrong;  that  they  have  a 
feeling  of  complacency  in  view  of  right  actions,  and  of  ill-desert 
in  view  of  the  wrong.  This  being  a  matter  of  consciousness, 
needs  no  other  proof  than  the  statement  of  it,  in  order  to  be  be- 
lieved and  understood.  This  being  the  case,  men  will  be  led  to 
suspect,  if  not  logically  to  infer  the  existence  of  a  Supreme  Being, 
who  in  some  manner  shall  reward  the  good  and  punish  the  evil — 
and  thus  is  derived  the  iJea  of  retribution.  The  point  is  not 
made  here,  by  any  means,  that  by  logical  necessity  the  existence 
of  a  principle  of  conscience  leads  to  the  conclusion  that  there  is  a 
God.  This  is  not  necessary  to  the  argument.  It  is  asserted  only 
that  the  impression  of  a  judge  of  moral  actions  within  the  breast 
of  man,  will  very  naturally  suggest  the/ear  of  a  Judge  above. 
The  whisperings  of  the  conscience,  if  they  convince  not  the  un- 
derstanding, will  yet  impress  the  imaginat;  jn  with  at  least  a  dim 


THE   DIFFICULTIES   OF   INFIDELITY.  ^27 

conception  of  some  supreme  power.  In  exact  accordance  with 
this  reasoning  is  the  fact  that  such  an  impression,  constituting  a 
rehgion  of  some  fashion,  is  found  wherever  man  is  found.  To 
this  fact  historians  of  all  ages,  and  philosophers  of  all  sects  bear 
concurrent  testimony.  The  Scythian,  the  Indian,  the  Gaul,  the 
German,  the  Briton,  as  well  as  the  more  enlightened  Greek  and 
Roman  of  ancient  times,  conceived  of  a  God  the  Judge,  and  of  a 
future  existence.  So  in  like  manner  the  most  uncivilized  of 
modern  nations,  alike  with  those  who  are  enlightened,  agree  in 
the  common  belief  of  a  God,-— and,  in  some  fasliion  or  other,  of  a 
retribution.  Ancient  philosophers  of  all  schools — Plato,  Cicero, 
Aristotle  and  Seneca  unite  in  testifying  that  this  was  the  most  an- 
cient and  universal  belief  of  all  ancient  nations.  And  the  modern 
skeptical  philosophers  with  equal  unanimity  declare  their  belief, 
that  in  the  nature  of  the  case  man  must  have  a  faith.  "Man," 
says  Shaftsbury,  "  is  born  to  religion.'"  "  Man,"  says  Bolingbroke, 
"is  a  religious  as  well  as  a  social  creature;  made  to  know  and 
adore  his  Creator,  to  discover  and  obey  his  will."  "  If,"  says  Adam 
Smith,  the  friend  of  Mr.  Hume,  '-if  we  consult  our  natural  senti- 
ments we  are  apt  to  fear  that  vice  is  worthy  of  punishment.  The 
doctrines  of  revelation  coincide  in  every  respect  with  the  original 
anticipations  of  nature." 

Now  in  this  admitted  necessity  of  some  religion  for  mankind 
arises  the  first  of  the  difficulties  of  infidelity.  It  is  clear  that  a 
mere  negative  of  the  gospel — nay,  even  a  demonstration  of  the 
absurdity  of  the  gospel,  by  no  means  finishes  this  question.  The 
solemn  fact  of  retribution,  lying  far  back  in  human  consciousness, 
is  affected  by  no  prelisninary  hypothesis  as  to  the  truth  of  Chris- 
tianity. The  elements  of  that  hell  from  which  the  gospel  pro- 
poses to  rescue  men,  lie  back  beyond  the  question  of  the  gospel, 
which  proposes  only  to  be  a  remedy  for  an  evil  known  to  exist 
among  the  children  of  men.  What  then,  though  we  have  proved 
the  gospel  to  be  a  fable?  Still  human  existence  is  no  fable; — 
nor  are  its  fears  of  retribution  a  fable.  What  though  v/e  have 
proven  the  improbability  of  the  Gospel  Judgment  to  come?  We 
have  still  not  quieted  the  anxieties  and  the  dread  which  guilt 
ever  generates  in  the  soul ;  nor  have  we  done  anything  (o  check 
that  flow  of  sorrow  which  human  experience  avers  must  ever 
follow  after  guilt.  If  man  "dieth  not  as  the  brute  dieth" — if,  as 
reason  would  lead  us  to  suspect,  the  life  that  now  is,  constitutes 
but   llje  infancy  of  an   eternal  mai  'lood   in   the  life  which  is  to 


528  THE  DIFFICULTIES   OF   INFIDELIT"*. 

come — if  human  nature  in  any  or  all  of  its  essential  attributes  js 
to  inhabit  eternity — then  most  clearly  the  duty  of  philosophers  is 
not  fully  discharged  to  their  race,  even  when  they  have  demol- 
ished the  entire  fabric  of  Christianity,  or  exposed  what  they  be- 
lieve to  be  the  shallow  empiricism  of  the  gospel  prescription  for 
the  spiritual  malady  of  the  race.  The  hell  which  symbolizes 
that  malady  is  no  invention  of  the  gospel  theology.  It  exists 
logically  anterior  to  the  coming  of  the  gospel,  and  would  still 
exist  even  though  the  memory  of  the.  gospel  were  blotted  from 
the  earth.  However  you  may  jeer  at  the  empiricism  \Vhich  pro- 
fesses to  control  the  stealthy  tread  of  "  the  pestilence  that  walketh 
in  darkness  ;"  yet  when  your  jeers  have  told  with  their  fullest 
effect,  in  overwhelming  with  contempt  the  quackery,  they  have 
done  nothing  toward  staying  the  march  of  the  destroyer,  or  pro- 
tecting you  from  its  deadly  breath.  And  so  the  jeer,  the  sarcasm, 
the  conteuipt,  the  sophistry, — nay,  though  it  be  the  argument — 
which  destroys  all  faith  in  the  gospel,  affects  not  in  the  least  the 
question  of  retribution  for  sin,  whose  existence  is  an  admitted 
fact,  independent  of  the  remedy  for  it.  The  gospel  professes  to 
come  only  as  a  heaven-devised  remedy  for  the  malady  of  conscious 
guilt,  and  proclaims  its  author  as  the  heaven-descended  physi- 
cian, able  to  rescue  from  a  death  whose  hand  is  already  felt  by 
every  soul  that  feels  at  all,  to  be  paralyzing  all  the  energies  of 
the  spiritual  existence.  If  the  skepticism  which  scoffs  at  the 
gospel,  have  found  another  and  a  better  remedy  for  the  known 
and  felt  calamity  of  our  race,  then  the  shafts  of  its  wit  are  well 
and  wisely  aimed.  If  it  have  found  some  "other  name  under 
heaven  given  amongst  men  whereby  they  may  be  saved"' — then 
it  is  all  well  enough.  Yet  let  the  votaries  of  skepticism  re- 
member that  by  the  necessity  of  the  case,  a  mere  barren  negation, 
however  plausible,  will  not  meet  the  case.  It  satisfies  no  yearn- 
ing of  the  liuman  heart.  It  stills  not  those  wailings  of  terror  and 
dread,  which  sin  causes  ever  to  echo  in  the  chambers  of  the  soul. 
It  can  soothe  no  trouble  of  the  conscience,  for  it  covers  not  up  the 
dread  vision  of  retribution  which  gleams  upon  every  reflective 
b^pirit. 

Why  then  shall  skepticism  waste  its  energies  to  destroy  the 
hopes  of  the  gospel,  which,  even  though  illusive,  can  possibly  do 
no  injury  to  a  race  already  doomed  and  hopeless?  Why,  in  the 
mere  wantonness  of  conscious  logical  strength,  dash  in  pieces  the 
ijeautiful  creation  of  fancy,  when  as  j/^et  reason  has  nothing  more 


THE   DIFFICULTIES   OF    INFIDELITY.  620 

substantial  to  substitute  in  its  stead?  Though  the  vision  of  dis- 
tant water,  which  oft  delights  the  fancy  of  the  famishing  enngiant 
over  the  great  western  desert,  be  but  a  mere  optical  illusion  ;  yet 
if  he  is  beyond  all  hope  of  any  real  slaking  of  his  burning  thirst, 
the  illusion  is  harmless  as  it  is  delightful.  Grant  then  that  tlie 
landscape  of  lake,  or  running  stream  and  overhanging  shade 
which  gleams  a  paradise  before  his  enraptured  sight,  is  all  the 
trick  of  the  deceptive  mirage  which  will  ever  recede  before  him 
and  vanish  at  last  into  thin  air;  still  it  is  no  high  act  of  benevo- 
lence to  inflict  upon  his  eager  though  jaded  spirit  a  display  of  your 
superior  knowledge  of  meteorology  in  demonstrating  that  all  is 
false  and  unreal.  If  there  is  yet  hope  for  him — if  in  some  other 
quarter  you  have  found  a  spring — nay,  even  a  stagnant  pool,  at 
which  the  intense  cravings  of  his  thirst  may  be  satiated  ;  then 
indeed  spare  not  ; — in  mercy  to  him  dash  in  pieces  the  vain  de- 
ception, that  he  waste  not  his  little  remaining  energy  in  pursuit 
of  a  phantom.  But  if  you  have  no  other  hope  to  set  before  him, 
and  his  doom  is  inevitable,  then  in  mercy  let  him  go  on  un- 
deceived. As  nature  fails — as  one  after  another  the  springs  of 
life  dry  up,  let  the  beautiful  illusion  still  feast  his  imagination  : 
as  reason  now  totters  on  her  throne  and  the  wild  dreams  of  de- 
lirium rush  thick  upon  him,  let  them  be  pleasant  dreams  of 
bliss  ; — let  him  lave  his  soul  in  the  cooling  delusion,  till  the  eye. 
glazed  in  death,  heed  no  longer  the  glare  of  the  fiery  sun ;  and 
the  cries  of  his  thirsty  appetite  have  been  hushed  forever.  Why 
come  to  torment  him  with  your  prosy  disquisitions  of  the  reflec- 
tion and  lefraction  of  the  atmosphere,  as  though  begrudging  him. 
the  single  moment  of  bliss  which  relieves  the  inevitable  horrors  of 
his  condition?  As  well  should  a  physician,  in  order  to  settle  a 
diflference  of  opinion  between  himself  and  a  dying  patient,  under- 
take by  an  ante-mortem  demonstration,  by  the  scalpel,  to  correct 
the  error  of  his  patient,  and  establish  his  own  superior  judgment 
in  the  diagnosis  of  disease. 

It  is  not  unimportant  to  have  multiplied  illustrations  on  this 
topic ;  since  this  not  only  is  the  hinge  on  which  this  controversy 
in  great  part  turns,  but  the  faith  of  thousands  has  become  un- 
settled, from  this  very  error  of  supposing  it  enough  to  discredit 
Christianity,  that  difficulties  may  be  suggested  in  regard  to  it. 

If  then  man  must  have  a  religion,  and  if,  in  the  opinion  of 
skepticism,  Christianity  is  not  the  system  to  meet  his  wants,  let 
skepticism  devise  some  other  scheme.     Has  this  been  done?     It  is 

34 


o30  THE    DlFFICL'LriES   OF   INFIDELITY. 

not  inteiKleil  here  to  argue  in  tlie  abstract,  the  questioa  o  the  pos- 
sibihty  or  impossibilit}'  of  any  satisfactory  scheme  of  rchgioii  in- 
tlepeiideiit  of  a  revekition  ;  but  simply  as  a  matter  of  fact  and 
history  to  reason  from  what  has  been  done.  If,  after  having  em- 
ployed the  highest  powers  of  a  long  line  of  philosophers,  embra- 
cing the  most  gifted  of  the  race,  during  a  period  of  five  thousand 
years,  the  problem  of  a  religion  for  mankind  has  not  yet  been 
solved,  it  is  very  safe  to  infer  that  it  cannot  be  done.  I  propose 
therefore  to  take  a  comprehensive  and  summary  view  of  the  an- 
swers which  have  been  given  by  the  most  enlightened  of  those  who 
have  not  known,  or  knowing,  have  rejected  Christianity,  to  the 
inquiries  which  the  spiritual  constitution  of  man  naturally  prompts 
him  to  make  in  regard  to  his  relation  to  God,  and  his  own  future 
destiny. 

The  question,  "What  is  man  to  believe  concerning  God?"  and 
"What  duty  does  God  require  of  man?"  is  one  which,  in  the  na- 
ture of  (he  case,  must  interest  every  human  being,  who  has  ever 
reflected  at  all.  A  rational  being  with  the  mementoes  of  the  eva- 
nescence of  his  present  existence  everywhere  around  him,  and  with 
the  sense  of  ill-desert  for  wrong-doing  ever  within  him,  must 
naturally  ask,  whither  am  I  going?  Is  the  present  life  all  of  my 
existence  ?  and  shall  this  thinking,  feeling  principle  within  me 
perish  with  the  body?  or  reaches  it  onward  to  another  life?  If 
so,  then  what  is  the  nature  of  that  life  to  come?  What  relation 
has  this  present  to  the  future  life?  Shall  that  be  a  life  of  joy  or 
sorrow?  or  shall  it  be  a  mere  abstract  existence  incapable  of  any 
of  the  sensations  of  pain  or  pleasure  that  belong  to  the  present? 
Does  the  relation  I  sustain  to  the  being  v/ho  hath  made  all 
things — and  of  whom  I  conceive,  not  only  as  a  Maker  and  a 
Father,  but  as  a  Judge — affect  the  question  of  my  future  life?  If 
«o,  is  he  favorable  or  hostile  to  my  happiness  ?  If  not  favorable, 
how  may  he  be  appeased?  and  on  what  conditions  will  he  pass  over 
guilt?  To  all  such  questions  the  gospel  offers  a  full  and  direct 
answer,  in  terms  which  the  most  ignorant  may  comprehend.  Its 
ansv/or  in  general  is — the  Judge  has  made  known  Jiis  will  and 
declared  the  terms  of  pardon.  An  atonement  for  sin  has  been 
made, 'by  which  is  furnished  a  reason  for  which  he  can  without 
derogating  from  that  purity  and  justice,  which  you  ascribe  to  him, 
regard  with  favor  even  creatures  who  have  sinned.  There  is  a 
f«ture  life,  to  which  the  present  is  but  a  preparatory  state,  and,  in 
that  life,  eternal  Joy  or  eternal  sorrow  shall  be  the  destiny  of  every 


THE    DIFFICULTIES    OF    INFIDELITY,  581 

man,  according  as  he   may  have  received  or   rejected   the  offer 
of  mercy. 

Now  to  this  answer  infidehty  demurs  on  various  grounds  ;  either 
that  there  could  have  been  no  such  revelation  from  heaven,  or  if 
so,  there  is  no  sufficient  evidence  that  it  has  been  made;  for  how- 
ever strong  the  testimony  in  behalf  of  the  Bible  as  a  revelation, 
it  is  still  insufficient  to  counterpoise  the  anterior  improbability  that 
such  a  revelation  should  be  made,  the  incredibleness  of  its  state- 
ment of  facts,  and  the  insuperable  difficulties  which  reason  finds 
attending  its  doctrines. 

We  turn  then,  for  a  more  rational  and  satisfactory  answer  to  the 
inquiries  of  the  human  soul,  to  the  teachings  of  philosophy,  and 
in  order  to  deal  fairly  and  candidly  with  the  system  of  skepticism, 
select  only  from  the  purest  and  noblest  of  its  teachers.  Let  us, 
in  imagination,  then,  follow  some  earnest  and  thoughtful  inquirer 
in  search  of  a  religion  which  shall  satisfy  the  wants  of  his  nature, 
resolved  in  the  spirit  of  a  true  eclecticism  to  gather  from  the  best 
lights  of  every  age. 

It  has  been  a  favorite  topic  of  declamation  with  our  skeptics  to 
exhibit  the  lofty  heights  of  theoretical  and  practical  religion  to 
which  the  ancients  attained  without  the  aid  of  Christianity,  as  an 
evidence  of  what  may  be  done  in  the  way  of  choosing  a  religion  of 
nature  for  men.  Voltaire  goes  so  far  as  to  claim  for  ancient  philoso- 
phy, not  only  the  glory  of  originating  a  theory  of  religion  superior 
in  some  respects  to  Christ's,  but  speaks  in  most  complimentary 
terms  of  the  pagan  religion  of  antiquity  as  "  containing  a  morality 
common  to  all  men  of  all  ages  and  places  ;  and  festivals  which 
were  no  more  than  times  of  rejoicing,  which  could  do  no  injury  to 
mankind  or  to  the  morality  of  their  votaries."  It  will  be  but  fair 
then  to  allow  our  inquirer  the  advantage  of  the  light  to  be  ob- 
tained from  the  ancient  as  well  as  the  modern  philosophy. 

Let  our  inquirer  turn  first  then  to  the  ancients  with  the  inquiry, 
"What  of  God?"  Tradition  back  to  the  remotest  time  instructs 
him  that  there  is  such  a  being  to  be  reverenced.  He  is  not  now 
however  in  search  of  tradition,  but  of  the  clearer  and  more  pro- 
found views  of  the  most  philosophic  thinkers.  "  God,"  answers 
Pythagoras,  "is  the  Universal  Mind  diffused  through  all  nature; 
and  the  human  soul  but  a  spark  stricken  off  from  him  as  the 
great  source  of  life."  "  God,"  answers  Anaxagoras  (and  the  an- 
swer is  delivered  amid  the  plaudits  of  his  age),  '•  is  the  Infinite 
Mind,  whic  i  planned  the  motion  and  order  of  all  things."     '•  God," 


532  TlIE   DIFFICULTIES   OF   INFIDELITY. 

says  Plalo,  "  is  the  Maker  and  Father  of  the  universe."  But  if 
now  the  inquirer  proceed  a  step  farther  and  ask,  what  is  the  nature 
of  God?  the  relation  in  which  God  stands  to  us  his  creatures?  all 
is-  vague  and  obscure.  Socrates,  who  speaks  most  intelligibly  of 
all  concerning  the  care  and  providence  of  God,  seems  to  conceive 
of  him  as  a  mere  superior  God,  with  hosts  of  inferiors  through 
whom  he  administers  human  affairs.  Plato  seems  to  limit  his 
omnipotence,  and  to  ascribe  a  co-ordinate  and  co-extensive  juris- 
diction to  an  Infinite  Spirit  of  evil,  while  the  various  schools  repre- 
sent God  as  hardly  a  personal  Being  at  all,  but  a  mere  ^principle 
pervading  the  universe. 

In  answer  to  the  still  more  practical  inquiry.  Does  God  ex- 
ercise a  providence  over  the  affairs  of  men? — a  question  which 
according  to  Cicero,  lies  at  the  foundation  of  all  religion — -the  ut- 
terances of  ancient  philosophy  are  still  more  vague  and  confused. 
Setting  aside  the  scoffing  of  Epicurus,  who  banished  God  from 
any  concern  with  the  world  which  he  has  made,  Cicero  himself, 
who  had  the  advantage  of  all  previous  speculations,  and  who 
wrote  a  treatise  of  the  nature  of  God,  regards  the  question  of  a 
Providence  as  a  matter  yet  unadjudicated.  And  even  Phny  laughs 
at  the  absurdity  of  supposing,  that  Divinity  should  take  upon  him- 
self so  troublesome  a  ministry  as  the  care  of  human  affairs. 
Among  those  even  who  maintained  the  doctrine  of  a  Providence, 
as  Epictetus  informs  us,  it  was  a  matter  of  high  dispute,  whether 
his  care  extended  only  to  heavenly  things,  or  also  to  things 
pertaining  to  this  earth  ;  and  even  those  who  held  the  latter 
opinion  contended  for  nothing  farther  than  a  providence  over 
generals,  without  extending  to  individuals.  According  to  the 
Stoics — the  most  virtuous  and  intelligent  of  all  the  sects — God 
himself,  in  the  exercise  of  this  providence,  is  governed  by  an  iron 
Fate,  or  Destiny,  which  controls  his  actions. 

In  reference  to  the  immortality  and  future  destiny  of  the  soul, 
nothing  can  be  more  uncertain  and  contradictory  than  the  utter- 
ances of  the  most  enlightened  writers  of  antiquity.  The  notion 
of  the  immortality  of  the  soul,  w^hich  they  confessed  to  have  been 
the  most  ancient  and  universal  belief  of  mankind — so  far  from 
becoming  more  definite  and  certain,  with  the  advance  of  philoso- 
phy, was  really  obscured  if  not  entirely  subverted.  Whole  schools, 
as  the  Cynics  and  the  Epicureans,  held  that  the  soul  died  with  the 
body  ;  and  o'  those  who  talked  most  sublimely  of  the  immortahty 
of  the  soul,  the  larger  porlion  founded  their  faith  on  the  assump- 


THE   DIFFICULTIES   OF   INFIDELITY.  583 

tion  that  the  soul  being  an  emanation  from  Divinity,  and  a  por- 
tion of  the  general  soul  of  the  world,  shall  therefore  not  perish  but 
be  "re-absorbed,"  as  Seneca  expressed  it,  "  into  the  ancient  ele- 
ments." The  very  position  on  wliich  Plato  mainly  founds  his 
celebrated  argument,  destroys  in  effect  this  personal  existence  of 
the  soul  after  death — "Of  necessity,"  says  he,  "  the  soul  is  an  un- 
generated,  and  therefore  an  immortal  thing."  Socrates,  notwith- 
standing his  elevated  and  consoling  speculation  of  the  nature  of  the 
soul,  declares  as  the  result  of  all  his  reflections,  "whether  a  better 
state  follows  the  present  is  known  only  to  God."  Cicero,  who,  in 
spite  of  the  affectation  peculiar  to  the  new  Academy — which  es- 
chewed all  positive  opinion — speaks  with  something  of  the  confi- 
dence of  a  philosopher  in  his  learned  treatises  on  this  subject, 
yet  in  familiar  letters  to  friends  expresses  himself  doubtfully  and 
inconsistently — ofttimes  declaring  death  to  be  the  end  of  all  things. 
Seneca,  who  undertook  the  task  of  administering  to  the  world 
consolation  in  sorrow,  has  no  higher  consolation  to  offer  at  the 
death  of  a  friend,  than  the  poor  sophism — '■^  aut  beatus  aut  nul- 

In  short,  the  noblest  utterances  of  ancient  philosophy  on  the 
whole  subject  of  God,  and  man's  relation  to  God  and  a  future 
state,  so  far  from  enlightening  and  confirming  the  popular  faith, 
surrounded  the  conception  of  God  with  an  obscurity,  which  in 
effect  tended  to  banish  the  idea  from  the  popular  mind.  While  they 
seemed  to  admit  the  existence  of  such  a  Being,  they  at  the  same 
time  banished  him  from  all  direct  practical  control  of  the  affairs  of 
man.  Those  of  them  who  have  made  themselves  immortal  by 
their  philosophical  demonstrations  of  the  immortality  of  the  soul, 
in  effect  obscured  and  subverted  the  popular  faith  in  this  doctrine. 
On  the  subject  of  a  future  retribution,  the  very  same  authors  pro- 
mulgated the  most  opposite  opinions.  Nay,  Plato  himself,  the 
great  expounder  of  the  theory  of  retribution,  absolutely  rejected 
this  notion  as  a  practical  faith  for  the  people  merely  on  the  ground 
of  political  inexpediency. 

Such  then  are  the  elements  of  the  great  results  of  ancient  teach- 
ing, out  of  which  must  be  framed  a  system  of  faith,  which  shall 
meet  the  wants  of  humanity,  in  lieu  of  the  system  of  the  gospel 
which  infidelity  proposes  to  reject.  Is  there  anything  here  which 
a  true  philosopher  would  be  willing  to  substitute  in  the  popular 
mind,  for  the  subhme  and  simple  faith  of  the  gospel,  which  teaches 
one  God,  a  Father  and  Ruler — one  Saviour — G6d  manifest  in  the 


534  THE   DIFFICULTIES   OF    INFIDELITY. 

flesh — one  Divine  Spirit  which  moves  upon  the  soul — one  kind 
Providence  which  numbers  even  the  hairs  of  our  head — a  hfe 
after  the  death  of  the  body  which  shall  rectify  the  inequalities  of  the 
life  that  now  is  ; — and  a  hope  of  abiding  in  his  "presence  where 
there  is  fulness  of  joy,  and  at  his  right  hand  where  there  are 
pleasures  for  evermore." 

Nay,  the  ancient  philosophers  themselves  were  far  from  desir- 
ing to  substitute  their  own  spec  ilations  for  the  faith  of  the 
masses,  even  absurd  and  inconsistent  as  they  held  that  faith  to  be. 
They  universally  answered  the  question,  "  How  is  God  to  be 
worshipped  ?"  by  referring  men  to  the  religion  of  their  country, 
their  oracles  and  priests.  Many  of  the  most  eminent  of  them,  as 
Plato,  purposely  veiled  their  instructions  in  an  obscurity  impene- 
trable to  ordinary  thinkers.  Cicero  held  it  to  be  absolutely  un- 
lawful to  declare  the  mysteries  of  the  Supreme  God  to  the  vulgar. 
And  however  just  might  have  been  their  views  of  religion,  this 
could  not  in  the  nature  of  the  case  have  furnished  mankind  with 
a  religion.  It  might  easily  be  shown,  if  time  permitted,  that  a  re- 
ligious faith  can  never  found  itself  on  mere  speculations,  however 
just.  The  teacher  of  religion  must  teach  "  by  authority,  and  not 
as  the  scribes."  Having  no  authority  to  enforce  their  instructions, 
the  people  at  large  concerned  themselves  little  about  their  pro- 
found speculations.  Some  authority  from  heaven  is  essential  to 
enforce  the  attention  of  men.  It  is  evident,  moreover,  that  the 
mere  reasonings  of  philosophy,  however  just,  cannot  offer  no 
practical  ground  of  religious  consolation  and  hope.  They  may 
amuse  the  light-hearted  students  of  the  Academy,  but  not  console 
the  sorrow-stricken  and  conscience-stricken  inhabitant  of  a  world 
of  sin.  The  spirit  disappointed  with  the  vanities  of  life — the 
heart  broken  at  the  sepulchre  of  some  heart-idol — the  soul  filled 
with  dismay  at  the  stern  approach  of  death,  are  not  in  a  frame 
to  follow  out  the  subtleties  of  philosophy,  and  comprehend  the 
certainty  of  its  conclusions,  however  just. 

Many  of  the  ancient  philosophers  themselves,  as  if  conscious 
of  this  difficulty,  never  referred  inquirers  who  asked  after  instruc- 
tion in  practical  religion,  to  their  own  disquisitions.  Cicero  en- 
joined upon  every  man  to  worship  God  according  to  the  religion 
of  his  country.  Plato,  in  the  Republic,  declares  that,  what  God 
Supreme  is,  and  how  he  is  to  be  worshipped,  is  best  left  to  the 
Oracle  at  Delphos. 

Indeed,  so  far  from  aiming  to  recover  t  le  masses  from  the  super- 


THE    DIFFICULTIES   OF   INFIDELITY.  635 

stilions  of  this  popular  idolatry,  the  anciont  philosophers,  witli 
singular  insincerity,  encour  ged  their  superstitions.  It  is  a  noto- 
rious fact,  that  in  the  con  est  between  Cliristianity  and  idolatry, 
the  philosophers  were  the  principal  supporters  of  Paganism.  They 
prostituted  their  genius  and  learning  to  make  idolatry  in  ail  its 
forms  respectable.  They  allegorized  the  monstrous  fables  of  the 
poets  so  as  to  give  them  a  semi-philosophic  currency.  Indeed, 
they  hesitate  not  to  defend  even  the  stupid  animal  worship  of  Egypt, 
as  containing  under  an  obscure  veil  the  highest  wisdom.  With 
such  proofs  before  them  of  the  insincerity  of  their  great  intellectual 
leaders,  no  wonder  the  masses  of  the  people  should  treat  their  spec- 
ulations with  contempt.  Nor  was  this  want  of  confidence  in  the 
speculations  of  philosophy  pecuhar  to  the  masses  of  the  people.  To 
say  nothing  of  the  professed  skeptics,  the  new  Academy,  embracing 
Cicero  himself,  held  nothing  to  be  certain — nothing  to  be  positively 
affirmed.  Without  any  of  the  affectation  of  the  new  Academy, 
Socrates,  with  true  humility,  affirmed  :  "  This  only  I  know,  that  I 
know  nothing."  All  intelligent  men  complained  of  the  uncertainty 
of  all  knowledge.  Diodorus  Siculus  openly  charged  the  Greek 
philosophy  with  leading  mankind  into  perpetual  doubt  even  in 
regard  to  the  plainest  truth.  It  is  needless  to  add  that  in  this 
state  of  the  case,  no  sincere  inquirer  could  look  to  this  quarter  for 
light  in  the  great  matter  of  religion. 

Having  thus  seen  that  the  ante-Christian  philosophers,  notwith- 
standing the  frequent  reference  to  them  in  such  a  tone  of  triumph, 
offer  no  relief  to  the  difficulties  of  infidelity  in  devising  a  religion 
for  mankind,  we  now  inquire  whether  the  anti-Chr'isUsin  philos- 
ophers of  modern  times,  though  having  the  advantage  of  the 
labors  of  their  predecessors,  as  well  as  of  much  light  borrowed 
from  Christianity  itself,  have  yet,  after  near  2,000  years,  devised 
any  system  of  instruction  for  those  who  inquire  what  man  is  to 
believe  concerning  God — -what  duty  God  requires,  and  what  des- 
•iny  has  in  store  for  man  7  And  both  because  this  investigation 
uiust  be  very  brief,  as  well  as  because  it  is  our  purpose  to  allow 
!nfidelity  the  advantage  of  exhibiting  only  its  most  enlightened 
and  illustrious  efforts  of  reason,  I  shall  confine  this  view  to  a  few 
of  the  most  remarkable  schools  of  philosophy  since  the  revival  of 
learning.  Whatthen  have  those  who  rejected  Christianity  as  the 
religion  for  human  nature  proposed  to  substitute  in  its  stead? 

If  there  be  any  more  rational  theory  of  religion  to  be  found  on 
which  the  soul  of  man  in  its  natural  eagerness  to  know  somcthinj?:. 


536  THE   DIFFICULTIES   OF   INFIDELITY. 

of  its  relation  to  the  universe  and    its  destiny  may  stay  itself,  it 
ought  certainly  to  be  found  here. 

Lord  Herbert,  with  whom  the  list  commences,  admits  fully  the 
absolute  necessity  of  a  religion  for  men  ;  and  having  rejected  the 
Christian  notion  of  a  revelation  from  God  as  unnecessary,  boldly 
undertakes  to  construct  a  system  in  its  stead.  That  there  is  a 
God  who  is  to  be  worshipped  with  acts  of  piety  and  virtue :  that 
there  are  sins  for  which  if  men  would  be  pardoned  they  must  re- 
pent ;  and  that  there  are  rewards  and  punishments  in  a  future  life  ; 
— are  the  articles  of  faith,  which  do  in  his  view  constitute  a 
creed  for  a  universal  religion — sufficient  for  all  the  wants  of  the 
human  soul.  1  cite  this  creed  not  only  as  that  which  comes  his- 
torically first  in  the  series  of  modern  infidelity,  and  is  therefore 
important;  but  because  also  it  is  in  itself  a  full  admission  of  the 
theory  of  the  whole  subject  by  which  it  is  proposed  here  to  lest 
infidelity,  to  wit :  that  some  faith  is  necessary  for  man,  and  that 
the  philosophy  which  rejects  Christianity,  is  to  be  held  justly  re- 
sponsible to  furnish  man  with  a  religion  in  its  stead.  In  regard 
to  this  creed  there  is  time  here  only  to  observe,  first,  that  it  is 
liable  to  all  the  objections  which  lie  against  Christianity  as  a  sys- 
tem of  dogmatism  :  secondly,  that  it  is  too  vague  and  indefinite  to 
answer  any  practical  purpose  for  the  great  mass  of  men  :  thirdly, 
that  it  is  impossible  to  prove  the  certainty  of  its  articles,  and  there- 
fore it  rests  on  the  ground  of  mere  authority — and  that  the  author- 
ity of  Herbert,  which  is  at  least  no  higher  than  that  of  Christ — 
though  Christ  be  shown  to  be  a  mere  man — and  lastly,  because 
the  creed  has  been  in  part,  if  not  utterly  repudiated,  by  the  greater 
lights  who  have  succeeded  Ijord  Herbert  in  the  work  of  enlighten- 
ing the  world  by  philosophy.  Passing  by  this  mongrel  creed  which 
has  been  rejected  alike  by  Christians  and  philosophers,  imagine 
now  a  man  of  ordinary  intelligence,  setting  out  most  devoutly  to  con- 
sult the  several  oracles  of  philosophy  which  have  been  set  up  since 
that  period  for  the  guidance  of  men,  asking,  what  is  God?  What 
is  man's  relation  to  him?  What  is  to  be  man's  destiny  after  the 
death  of  the  body.  Applying  first  to  Bolingbroke,  he  is  told  to 
believe  "  that  there  is  one  supreme  all-perfect  Being — the  eternal 
— the  original  cause  of  all  things  and  of  almighty  power.  But 
we  must  not  ascribe  to  him  any  moral  attributes,  or  deduce 
moral  obligations  from  those  attributes;  or  be  guilty  of  the  blas- 
phemy of  talking  of  imitatirg  him.  That  this  God  made  the 
world  at  first,  and  established   the  laws  of  the  system,  but  now 


THE  DIFFICULTIES   OF  INFIDELITY.  687 

has  no  more  concern  with  its  affairs — except  so  far  perhaps  as 
relates  to  collective  bodies.  As  to  the  soul  and  its  destiny — the 
soul  is  not  distinct  from  the  body,  and  therefore  perishes  with  it. 
While  it  is  of  great  use  to  believe  the  impression  of  immortality 
and  of  rewards  and  punishments  hereafter — yet  the  whole  thing 
is  a  fiction.  That  finally  Reason  discovers  to  man  a  law  of  na- 
ture founded  in  the  human  system  and  clear  to  all  mankind."  But 
lest  the  inquirer  shall  be  too  curious,  he  is  gravely  informed 
not  to  expect  too  much.  "  Theists  concur  in  ascribing  to  God  all 
possible  perfections;  yet  they  will  always  differ  when  they  descend 
into  any  detail^  and  jjretend  to  he  particulaj'  about  them,  as 
they  have  always  differed  in  their  notions  of  those  perfections. 
Thus  the  only  answer  given  is  in  substance,  that  there  is  a  God 
of  all  possible  perfection,  but  what  those  perfections  are,  is  a  ques- 
tion of  detail  about  which  philosophers  differ.  That  men  ought 
to  believe,  as  men,  and  as  a  matter  of  expediency,  that  the  soul  is 
immortal,  and  that  there  are  pains  or  pleasures  in  store  for  it  here- 
after, while  as  philosophers,  they  must  perceive  that  this  faith  is 
mere  humbug.  From  Shaftsbury  such  an  inquirer  would  soon 
turn  aside,  deterred  on  the  one  hand  by  his  tone  of  dogmatic  con- 
tempt, and  on  the  other  by  his  declaration  that  all  religious  faith, 
beyond  belief  in  the  existence  of  God,  is  unnecessary.  Nor  will 
he  be  disposed  to  tarry  long  among  the  disciples  of  the  school  of 
French  materialism,  who  denying  "  angel  or  spirit" — under  the 
influence  of  a  philosophy  which  makes  matter  the  source  and  ori- 
gin of  all  thought — with  Yoltaire  doubts  the  existence  of  God 
himself,  and  utterly  repudiates  immortality  for  man  —  or  with 
D'Alembert  declares  a  God  unnecessary.  From  such  philosophy 
he  shrinks  back,  as  doing  violence  to  the  noblest  impulses  and 
instincts  of  his  nature. 

Imagine  then  an  ordinary,  though  sincere  and  earnest  mind, 
coming  at  length  upon  the  "bristling  formulas  of  the  absolute" 
among  the  lofty-soaring  idealists  of  modern  Germany,  where  he 
finds  a  whole  empire  concentred  upon  the  investigation  of  three 
problems — The  existence  of  God  and  his  nature — The  universe 
— The  freedom  and  destiny  of  the  human  soul.  He  inquires  first 
of  Kant,  and  receives  for  answer  in  substance — -Man  has  a  con- 
ception of  God — yet  scientifically  speaking,  this  conception  can- 
not be  regarded  as  anything  else  than  the  generalizing  power  of 
our  own  reason  personified.  Of  course,  he  inquires  here  no  further ; 
for  though  he  still  feels  eager  for  light  on  the  subject  of  God  and 


"538  THE   DIFFICULTIES   OF   INFIDELITY. 

the  soul,  he  is  dismissed  to  consult  the  "  categoiical  imperative." 
and  while  he  is  assured  that  the  answer  of  that  oracle  will  declare 
to  him  the  three  truths — the  existence  of  God,  the  liberty  of  man. 
And  the  immortalit}'  of  the  soul — yet  no  light  whatever  dawns 
ujDon  his  conscience,  as  to  liow  from  this  existence  of  a  God  and 
liie  immortality  of  the  soul  to  infer  his  relation  to  God  as  happy 
or  unhappy  forever.  He  turns  now  to  Fichte:  "You  ask  of  God," 
says  the  philosopher,  we  have  no  conception  of  him  save  as 
the  subject  of  thought,  conceived  of  as  absolute  ;  all  that  we  see 
in  looking  out  upon  the  universe  is  the  reflex  of  our  own  activit)'^ 
— the  objectified  laws  of  our  own  being.  The  "I"  is  the  only 
object  in  the  universe.  "Self  is  the  absolute  principle  of  all  phi- 
losophy. "1"'  am  the  Creator  of  the  universe.  "I  make  it  to 
realize  my  own  self-development.  The  thinking  of  the  mind  is 
the  active  existence  of  God;  so  that  man  and  God  are  identical. 
I  then  am  God."  With  wliat  horror  will  our  plain  inquirer  turn 
from  this — to  him  at  least — unintelligible  jargon?  We  may  well 
imagine  him  to  exclaim,  "Is  philosophy  thus  after  attaining  its 
sublimest  heights,  recurring  again  to  the  monstrous  idolatry  of 
ancient  Paganism  ?" — "  Changing  the  glory  of  the  incorruptible 
God  into  an  image  like  unto  corruptible  man  ?"  "I,"  a  man — am 
God?  "The  thinking  mind  is  his  active  existence?"  Then  the 
philosopher  who  thinks  thus  sublimely  is  the  highest  of  all  devel- 
opments of  God  !  Nay,  is  not  this  conception  worse  than  the  an- 
cient Paganism?  For  though  that  made  man  God,  yet  it  chose 
the  highest  conception  and  attribute  of  man.  In  Jupiter  it  wor- 
shipped power — in  Apollo,  manly  strength  and  beauty — in  Venus 
the  concentred  charms  of  woman  !  But  we,  after  the  advance 
of  so  many  ages  of  improvement,  must  worship  as  our  highest 
form  of  God,  a  little  pipe-smoking  high-Dutch  philosopher !  In 
contempt  he  turns  next  to  Schelling  as  the  antagonist  of  Fichte 
and  of  more  "  spiritual"  views.  Here  he  is  told  that  before  and 
independent  of  the  existence  of  the  world,  God  is  the  undeveloped, 
impersonal,  absolute  essence  from  which  all  things  proceed,  but 
tending  to  personality  in  the  production  of  the  universe.  Still 
more  puzzled,  he  turns  to  Hegel  and  is  told,  "God  is  a  mere 
process,  ever  unfolding,  realizing  himself  in  the  human  conscious- 
ness. God  is  the  dialectic  process  of  thought.  In  another  aspect 
God  is  nature  coming  to  self-consciousness — the  absolute  idea. 
Hence  he  exists  only  in  knowledge.  Therefore  he  can  exist  only 
in  man.     Or  by  another  process  assuming  the  truth  which  is  ob- 


THE   DIFFICULTIES   OF   INFIDELITY.  539 

vious,  that  "something  and  nothing  are  the  same"— then  God  is 
nothing.  Our  inquirer,  though  still  more  puzzled,  has  at  last  this 
consolation,  that  here  at  length  are  two  philosophers  for  once  in- 
finitely near  an  agreement.  Rousseau  complained  that  he  found 
no  two  philosophers  ever  to  agree,  but  that  each  one  constituted  a 
sect  to  himself.  Here,  however,  are  two  between  whom  the  dif- 
ference is  "  the  mere  ghost  of  a  departed  quantity."'  One  works 
out  the  conclusion,  that  the  very  highest  development  of  God  is 
a  high-Dutch  philosopher — the  other  decides, in  infinitely  close  ap- 
proximation to  this,  that  God  is  nothing  at  all. 

Or  perhaps,  now  attracted  by  the  imposing  title  of  Eclecticism 
assumed  by  the  more  niodern  French  philosophy,  and  imagining 
that  here  is  truth  in  the  grand  collection  of  all  the  good  things  of 
all  systems,  he  turns  toward  this  quarter  his  inquiries,  and  in  an- 
swer to  the  question,  what  we  are  to  believe  concerning  God?  he 
is  told  that  God  is  the  spontaneous  Reason,  the  first  and  last  prin- 
ciple of  all  things.  Reason  is  literally  a  universal  revelation.  It 
is  the  mediator  between  God  and  man.  It  is  the  very  '-word 
made  flesh."  God  thus  everywhere  present,  returns  to  self-con- 
sciousness in  man.  In  short,  the  divine  nature  is  a  simple  Pan- 
theism. I  need  not  refer  to  other  instances  of  the  French  school ; 
for  whatever  variations  and  controversies  the  various  sects  may 
have  had  among  themselves,  all  alike  are  characterized  by  their 
scoffs  at  all  veneration  for  a  personal  Divine  Being — and  by  their 
rejection  of  almost  every  idea  of  spiritual  duty — and  by  substi- 
tuting the  mere  vague  idea  of  nature  for  the  living  God.  Though 
the  revolutions  in  French  philosophy  have  been  both  as  numerous 
and  as  remarkable  as  the  revolutions  of  French  politics,  the  results 
of  them  have  been  as  far  from  promoting  real  truth,  as  have  the 
j)olitical  revolutions  of  promoting  real  personal  and  civil  freedom. 

Or  if  he  turn  away  in  disgust  from  these  highest  developments 
of  philosophy  in  Europe,  and  seek  with  fond  hope  some  light  from 
the  more  practical  labors  of  American  thinkers — here  too,  to  his 
surprise,  he  finds  among  those  "  professing  themselves  to  be  wise" 
the  same  dim  and  indefinite  conceptions  of  the  whole  subject. 
In  their  effort  to  relieve  Christianity — for  which  they  profess  the 
highest  regard — from  the  incumbrances  of  superstition,  they  have 
gone  from  step  to  step  in  the  work  of  improving  their  systems  of 
"Rational  Christianity"  until,  with  singular  diversity  of  view, 
they  have  propounded  a  jargon  of  strange  conceits  concerning 
God  and  th  ^  soul  of  man,  which  has  all  the  wildness  and  extrav- 


5-iO  THE   DIFFICULTIES   OF   INFIDELITY. 

agance  of  the  German  which  it  imitates,  without  any  of  the  dia- 
lectic acuteness  and  profuse  learning  which  saves  the  German 
from  utter  contempt. 

We  make  our  inquiry  of  this  oracle  for  some  comprehensible 
and  consistent  truth  concerning  God  with  the  less  confidence,  for 
that  some  of  its  priests  give  us  notice  in  advance  that  in  their 
esteem  "  consistency  is  no  jewel ;" — nor  do  they  give  in  to  the 
vulgar  delusion  that  to  make  one's  self  understood  is  at  all  praise- 
worthy. "  A  foolish  consistency,"  says  Mr.  Emerson,  "  is  the 
hobgoblin  of  little  minds.  With  consistency  a  great  soul  has 
nothing  to  do."  "  To  be  great  is  to  be  misunderstood.  Socrates, 
Jesus,  and  Luther,  were  all  misunderstood."  Accordingly  we 
find  these  marks  of  greatness  in  all  their  utterances  concerning 
God  and  the  duty  man  owes  to  God.  An  emasculated  Christian 
philosophy,  falsely  so  called,  pipes  ever  in  romance  of  "  God  io 
the  air," — in  the  hills — in  the  canvass  and  pencil  of  the  painter. 
Whether  God  is  a  personal  being,  or  the  mere  substratum  of  all 
things,  seems  not  yet  "understood."  As  to  any  duty  which  we 
owe  to  God,  or  with  what  afiections  of  heart  we  shall  worship, — 
these  are  obsolete  ideas.  "Purity  of  heart  and  the  law  of  gravi- 
tation will  yet  be  found  to  be  identical."  As  to  worship — "AH 
nature  is  a  temple  of  worship;  and  he  who  produceth  any  phe- 
nomena in  nature  is  a  true  worshipper  of  God.  "Laborare  est 
orare."  Work  is  worship.  "All  true  work  is  sacred  ;  in  all  true 
work,  were  it  hut  true  hand  labor,  there  is  something  of  divine- 
ness."*  The  world  had  heard  before  of  the  "  dignity  of  labor ;" 
and  orators  and  poets  had  in  figures  of  speech  ascribed  a  sort  of 
divinity  to  the  labor  of  man,  when  contemplating  it  as  harness- 
ing up  the  lightning  to  run  an  express  over  continents  ;  or  as 
annihilating  time  and  space  by  the  agency  of  steam ;  or  even  in 
compelling  the  earth,  by  her  mysterious  processes,  to  yield  the 
fruits  which  fill  man's  garners.  But  it  will  hardly  be  a  doctrine 
"  understood,"  much  less  felt  to  be  in  accordance  with  the  feelings 
of  a  sincere  inquirer  after  God,  that  mere  bodily,  or  even  mental 
toil,  is  the  fittest  worship  he  can  offer  the  Creator  and  Father  of 
all.  Nor  will  such  a  man  be  likely  to  perceive  the  "  consistency" 
of  holding  that  "labor  is  worship"  with  the  fact,  that  while  in- 
deed labor  not  only  elevates  and  dignifies  man,  and  supplies  the 
wants  of  the  needy,  yet  it  is  labor  also,  which  moulds  the  false 
keys,  and  forges  the  false  bill,  and  fills  the  world  with  base  and 

»  Carlyle. 


THE   DIFFICULTIES   OF   INFIDELITY.  541 

deceitful  wares  ; — no  very  acceptable  acts  of  worship  surely,  to  a 
God  of  purity  and  justice. 

But  whilst  the  developments  of  modern  skepticism  have  been 
chiefly  in  the  direction  of  a  transcendentalism  which  professes  to 
seek  only  more  "spiritual"  views ;  and  claims  to  have  published 
a  new  and  improved  edition  of  Christianity,  far  more  profound 
and  spiritual  than  the  old ;  there  has  grown  up  side  by  side  with 
this  form  of  infidelity,  another  form  more  dangerous  because 
more  congenial  with  the  tendencies  of  the  age,  and  more  palpable 
to  the  perception  and  comprehension  of  ordinary  men.  As  a  con- 
sequence of  the  remarkable  extensions  of  the  facts  of  physical 
science  and  of  the  applications  of  powerful  and  far-reaching 
generalizations  to  these  facts  when  discovered,  certain  impulsive 
and  ill-balanced  minds,  as  in  all  periods  of  great  mental  excite- 
ment, seized  with  a  wild  fanaticism  of  science,  and  overleaping 
the  barriers  which  reason  and  nature  have  set  to  limit  the 
progress  of  human  knowledge,  have  devised  a  sort  of  Religion  of 
Science,  in  the  character  of  whose  Divinity  the  physical  sciences 
are  very  strongly  represented.  One  of  these  sects  renders  its 
religious  homage  to  a  God  wbo  appears  to  be  conceived  of,  as  an 
Almighty  inventor  and  machinist,  who  having  devised  and  put 
in  motion  a  mere  physical  universe,  has  retired  to  a  distance ; 
and  as  from  some  infinite  eminence,  contemplates  with  eternal 
complacency  the  smoothly  moving  wheel-work.  Another  sect, 
advancing  as  they  suppose  a  degree  or  two  higher,  seem  to  con- 
ceive of  God  as  of  some  great  self-absorbed  mathematical  pro- 
fessor, forever  establishing  the  grent  laws  of  physics,  and  super- 
intending their  practical  operation  in  the  physical  universe. 
Whilst  a  third  sect,  holding  it  to  be  by  no  means  a  sufficiently 
exalted  and  sublime  view  of  the  nature  of  Divinity,  to  attribute 
to  him  any  present  concern  with  such  trifles,  conceive  of  him,  as 
having  merely  acted  at  first  in  some  past  eternity,  and  glorified 
himself  in  giving  its  first  impulse  to  the  laws  of  nature,  and  then 
retired  to  await  the  development  of  these  laws  in  the  production 
of  the  physical  universe ; — as  some  ancient  capitalist  having  in- 
vested his  means  in  productive  stocks,  retires  at  his  ease  to  con- 
template with  ever-increasing  pleasure  the  development  of  an 
ever-accumulating  wealth.  All  these  views  alike  banish  God 
practically  from  the  universe.  They  with  mock  reverence  exalt 
him  to  a  throne; — but  it  is  a  throne  shorn  of  its  glory  in  a  soli- 
tary and  silent  eternity.     They  profess  most  piously  to  believe  in 


54:2  THE   DIFFICULTIES   OF   INFIDELITY. 

God's  existence,  while  tlie  attributes  of  the  existence  which  they 
ascribe  to  him,  make  it  practically  no  existence  at  all.  So  far  as 
relates  to  the  character  of  that  Being  in  whom  man  as  a  moral 
creature  feels  any  interest ; — ^so  far  as  concerns  Religion  in  the 
sense  of  something  that  is  to  enlighten  the  understanding,  relieve 
the  conscience,  and  elevate  the  moral  nature ; — this  philosophy 
is  literally  "without  God  in  the  world."  Indeed,  teaching  as  it 
does  that  man  himself  is  but  the  higher  "development"  of  mere 
animalism  ; — that  originating  at  first  in  some  fortuitous  chemical 
experiment  in  which  electric  currents  passing  through  matter 
have  somehow  organized  a.n  animalculum ; — that  thence  start- 
ing in  an  infinite  progress  of  transmigration,  the  animalculum 
becomes  first  a  reptile — then  the  reptile  a  four-footed  beast— and 
then  the  four-footed  beast  an  ape — then  the  ape  a  man — then 
the  man  an  Aristotle,  a  Bacon,  a  Laplace  or  a  Newton  ; — this 
philosophy  needs  no  God  for  its  man  in  this  life,  nor  any  im- 
mortality for  him  in  a  life  to  come. 

But  let  this  sufliice.  It  would  be  wearisome  to  detail  the  almost 
infinite  catalogue  of  systems  of  minor  note, — and  profitless  as 
wearisome.  Nor  need  we  care  to  exercise  the  privilege  which  the 
laws  of  war  would  justify,  and  in  imitation  of  infidelity  when 
attacking  Christianity,  array  against  our  adversaries  the  fooleries 
of  every  insignificant  skeptical  sect  that  has  burlesqued  the  name 
of  infidelity.  We  have  so  far,  in  this  search  for  a  theory  of  re- 
ligion to  substitute  for  Christianity,  endeavored  to  give  infidelity 
the  advantage  of  its  best  and  highest  eflforts,  unembarrassed  by 
the  follies  of  confessed  failures.  And  notwithstanding  this,  the 
very  mention  of  anything  like  unity  as  essential  to  any  article  of 
religion,  is  the  keenest  satire  on  skepticism.  We  have  a  right  to 
demand,  however,  what  creed  can  be  gathered  from  this  mass  of 
opinions'?  If  we  are  to  select  one,  which  is  the  true  one?  If 
we  become  Eclectics  and  select  from  all,  on  what  principle  make 
the  selection?  who  is  able  to  do  it?  We  have  a  right  to  ask  the 
question — and  from  us,  it  comes  with  infinite  force  and  emphasis. 
Who  is  right,  of  all  these  innumerable  sects  of  philosophy  ?  How 
is  the  world  to  believe  you,  before  you  have  first  made  at  least 
some  show  of  agreement  among  yourselves?  Christians  have 
drawn  out  the  teachings  of  their  religion  into  creeds — -logical  and 
consistent  articles  of  faith — and  with  all  their  apparent  diversity 
of  opinion  on  other  topics  they  at  least  must  be  admitted  to  agree 
on  the  fundamental  points — of  God — His  relation  to  man — and 


THE   DIFFICULTIES   OF   INFIDELITY.  543 

the  destiny  of  the  human  soul.  Let  us  see  then  in  brief  what 
sort  of  a  creed  on  these  vital  topics  we  can  glean  from  the  phi- 
losophy on  which  infidelity  relies  instead  of  inspiration.  Volney, 
the  priest  of  Philosophism,  pretended  in  imitation  of  Christians 
to  form  into  a  catechism  the  articles  of  infidel  belief.  We  but 
follow  a  high  example,  therefore,  in  the  endeavor  to  condense 
into  this  form  the  opinions  which  we  have  been  considering. 

QuEs.  "  What  is  God  ?"'  Ans.  God  is  a  name,  the  idea  to  be 
attached  to  which  is  not  yet  definitely  determined.  Our  wisest 
teacliers  differ; — some  holding  that  it  denotes  a  mere  power 
which  first  gave  impulse  to  the  universe;  others  regard  the  word 
as  the  name  of  a  spirit  that  pervades  all  nature;  others  again  as 
a  mere  logical  symbol  for  the  abstract  and  indefinite,  ego — the 
infinity  of  the  "  I-hood." 

Q,.  "Is  not  God  then  a  Personal  Being?"  Axs.  There  have 
been  those,  both  among  the  ancients  and  the  moderns,  who  have  so 
held.  But  as  the  light  of  modern  philosophy  has  guided  men 
into  higher  regions  of  speculation,  this  notion  is  becoming  obsolete 
and  left  to  the  unscientific  and  superstitious  vulgar — yet  it  must 
be  confessed  that  some  of  our  wisest  men  have  earnestly  held  it. 

Q,.  Does  God  concern  himself  with  human  affairs  ?  Ans.  This 
is  a  matter  of  speculative  opinion.  Some  of  our  greatest  teachers 
have  held  that  chance  directs  all  things.  Others  hold  that  Fate 
and  Destnuj  rule  the  universe.  Many,  however,  have  argued 
most  ingenionsl}''  for  a  rational  jurisdiction  of  Providence.  Of 
this  class  again,  some  hold  the  Providence  to  extend  only  to  great 
affairs,  while  others  contend  that  if  Providence  control  not  the 
small  affairs,  He  cannot  possibly  control  the  greater.  Some  con- 
ceive of  this  jurisdiction  as  exercised  personally,  but  most  of  the 
modern  great  men  regard  it  unphilosophical  to  hold  to  any  Provi- 
dence, exercised  in  any  other  manner  than  through  the  agency  of 
laws  established  from  the  very  first. 

Q,.  What  of  the  human  soul  and  its  existence  after  this  life  ? 
Ans.  This  is  a  merely  speculative  matter  concerning  which  wise 
men  must  necessarily  differ.  The  simplest  theory  on  this  subject, 
and  that  which  is  attended  with  the  least  difficulty,  is  that  there 
is  no  soul.  In  this  opinion,  loo,  men  of  the  most  opposite  philos- 
ophy, as  the  Materialists  and  Transcendentalists,  seem  in  effect 
to  agree.  Another  view  of  the  subject  perhaps  equally  simple,  is 
that  the  question  itself  is  one  beyond  the  pale  of  true  Philosophy. 
Thus  one  of  our  great  lights  has  said,  "The  momen    the  doctrine 


544:  THE   DIFFICULTIES   OF   IXFIDELITY. 

of  immortality  is  separately  taught,  man  is  already  fallen.  No 
inspired  man  ever  condescends  to  these  evidences."*  Yet  it  must  be 
admitted  that  the  most  refined  and  subtle  of  the  doctors  in  past 
times  have  taught  that  man  has  a  soul,  and  that  this  soul  isperhaps 
immortal.  As  to  the  relation  of  the  future  to  the  present,  there  is 
no  certain  opinion — nor  can  there  be,  owing  to  the  uncertainty  as 
to  the  nature  of  the  soul.  The  prevailing  tendency  of  opinion, 
however,  is  at  present  in  an  opposite  direction  from  the  views  of 
the  last  age.  Then  the  soul  was  conceived  of  as  but  the  central 
point  of  acuteness  and  sensibility  in  a  congeries  of  organs  ;  its  im- 
pulses of  good  and  evil,  were  supposed  to  be  secretions  of  the  gan- 
glia and  the  brain  ;  and  Cabanis  demonstrated  by  the  scalpel  the 
process  by  which  the  vibrations  of  the  nervous  system  were  trans- 
formed into  thought  and  emotion.  At  present  the  inclination  of 
philosophy  is  rather  to  regard  the  term  ''sour  as  a  figure  of  speech 
—the  representative  of  a  popular  "  myth,"  and  though  spoken  of 
by  the  world  at  large  as  a  real  existence,  the  term  as  used  by  the 
more  eminent  philosophers  denotes  the  mere  allegorical  drapery 
of  an  imaginary  idea  ! 

Such  would  be  a  specimen  of  the  modern  catechism  of  reason. 
Perhaps  however  the  very  conception  of  such  a  formula  will  be 
treated  with  disdain,  as  an  antiquated  and  obsolete  fashion  of 
giving  expression  to  religious  faith  ;  as  restraining  free  inquiry  in 
an  age  of  "  progress  ;"  and  as  tending  to  trammel  and  embarrass 
the  efforts  of  reason  to  enlighten  mankind.  If  then  we  may  not 
require  of  Infidelity  such  a  "Confession  of  Faith" — drawn  out  into 
formal  propositions  from  its  sources  of  knowledge, — we  may  at 
least  ask  for  the  "Bible"  of  reason.  Imagine  then,  that, — in  a  man- 
ner analogous  to  the  collection  into  one  volume  of  the  writings  of 
some  thirty  different  authors  of  different  eras,  which  Christians 
reverence  as  the  revelation  from  God  and  the  source  of  all  their 
formulas  of  Faith,  we  have  collected  into  one  volume  the  theo- 
logical teachings  of  the  several  philosophers  who  have  united  in 
rejecting  Christianity.  And  in  order  to  give  Infidelity  every  possi- 
ble advantage  in  the  comparison,  and  the  least  possible  embarrass- 
ment on  the  score  of  consistency,  we  will  not  demand  of  it  any 
"  Old  Testament"  in  writings  of  an  ancient  era  of  civilization.  Give 
us  a  "  New  Testament"  embracing  the  modern  golden  era  of  philoso- 
phy ; — a  vol'ime  for  the  guidance  of  the  world  in  theology  embracing 
only  the  last  and  highest  results  of  the  speculations  of  a  thousand 

*  Emerson. 


THE  DIFFICULTIES  OF   INFIDELITY.  545 

years.  Such  a  volume  would  have  the  doctors  of  the  earlier  En- 
glish and  French  schools  of  philosophy  for  its  "Evangelists;"  the 
exploits  of  the  French  revolutionary  savans  for  its  "  Acts  of  the 
Apostles  ;" — the  disquisitions  of  the  German  idealists  and  ration- 
alists for  its  "  Epistles" — and  the  mystic  visions  of  French  and  Amer- 
ican Eclectic  transcendentalists  for  its  final  "  Revelation."  Provide 
us  with  such  a  volume,  and  we  are  then  placed  upon  a  just  footing 
for  a  comparison  between  the  revelation  of  faith  and  the  revela- 
tion of  reason.  Skeptical  criticism  has  made  itself  extremely  busy 
with  microscopic  search  after  the  "  discrepancies'^  between  the 
several  writers  of  the  Christian  volume.  But  let  skeptical  criticism 
now  try  its  ingenuity  in  finding  the  ^^  coincidences''^  between  the 
several  writers  of  this  "  Bible"  of  reason.  Let  it  reconcile  Her- 
bert declaring  the  existence  of  a  personal  God,  possessed  of  moral 
attributes  which  are  the  grounds  of  all  religion,  with  Bolingbroke 
denying  the  possibility  of  knowing  their  attributes,  or  with  Vol- 
taire doubting  God's  very  existence,  or  D'Alembert  asserting  that 
God  is  unnecessary.  Let  it  seek  for  the  coincidences  between 
Shaftesbury  proclaiming  the  existence  of  a  personal  God  as  a  first 
and  necessary  truth,  and  Spinoza  declaring  God  to  be  simply  the 
substratum  of  all  existence ;  or  Fichte  denying  any  active  exist- 
ence of  a  God  beyond  the  limits  of  the  human  soul ;  or  Hegel 
announcing  God  is  nothing ;  or  Cousin  answering  God  is  every- 
thing !  Let  it  harmonize  the  schools  which  teach  a  Providence 
and  an  immortality,  with  the  schools  which  repudiate  a  Provi- 
dence and  proclaim  death  to  be  an  eternal  sleep!  If  the  canons 
of  judgment  which  skepticism  has  applied  to  the  investigation  of 
Christianity  be  just,  then  the  application  of  these  canons  to  the 
system  of  unbelief  must  be  equally  just.  Tried  by  the  rule  that 
truth  is  unity  and  ever  consistent  with  itself,  what  is  the  world  to 
think  of  a  theology  that  both  afiirms  and  denies  absolutely  the 
existence  of  God  ;  that  afiirms  now  his  personal,  and  now  an  im- 
personal existence  ;  that  affirms  and  denies  the  immateriality  and. 
immortahty  of  the  soul,  and  that  both  affirms  and  denies  every 
point  relating  to  either  the  responsibility  or  the  great  end  and  pur- 
pose of  the  present  life? 

If  these  several  pictures  shall  have  the  air  of  a  caricature,  the 
philosophers  themselves  are  to  blame  for  it.  Their  opinions  are 
fairly  stated  ;  and  if  a  mere  juxtaposition  of  their  several  opinions 
expose  the  absurdity  of  them,  it  but  exposes  at  the  same  time  the 
eff'rontery  of  the  men  who  would  set  up  their  discordant  opinions  in. 

35 


546  THE   DIFFICULTIES   OF   INFIDELITY. 

opposition  to  the  sublime  unity  of  that  wonderful  volume,  which 
though  embracing  the  writings  of  men  of  every  variety  of  charac- 
ter, genius  and  acquirement,  living  in  every  different  historical  era 
through  a  period  of  fifteen  hundred  years,  yet  all  teach  the  same 
God — the  same  providence  of  God — the  same  method  of  securing 
God's  favor — -the  same  theory  of  the  human  soul,  and  the  same 
immortal  destiny  of  the  soul  after  the  present  life. 

Well  said  Rousseau  of  his  infidel  brethren,  "  I  have  consulted 
our  philosophers — I  have  read  their  books — I  have  examined  their 
opinions.  I  find  them  all  proud,  positive  and  dogmatic,  even  in 
their  pretended  skepticism ; — knowing  everything  and  proving 
nothing,  and  ridiculing  one  another.  If  you  count  the  number  of 
them,  each  one  is  reduced  to  himself;  they  never  unite  but  to  dis- 
pute." 

We  have  confined  the  argument  as  to  the  ability  of  Infidelity  to 
devise  a  theology  for  the  world,  to  what  has  yet  been  done.  It 
might  easily  be  shown  if  time  permitted,  that  this  is  in  the  nature 
of  the  case  the  best  that  can  be  done.  The  infinite  confusion  of 
opinions  which  has  been  exhibited,  arises  not  from  the  mere  idio- 
syncrasies of  individual  minds,  who,  in  spite  of  a  true  philosophy, 
have  run  into  these  errors  and  contradictions  in  the  application  of 
the  system.  They  are,  all  of  them,  the  natural  and  logical  result 
of  the  very  first  principles  of  Infidelity ;  and  are  the  conclusiona 
at  which  variously  constituted  minds  must  arrive  by  logical  neces- 
sity, when  once  they  have  adopted  the  peculiar  stand-point  from 
which  Infidelity  views  the  philosophy  of  religion.  The  fundamental 
controve^'sy  between  the  advocates  and  the  impugners  of  revelation 
is  as  to  the  nature  of  the  inquiry  concerning  religion.  Is  religion 
a  question  oi  fact  or  a  question  of  reason  7  Christianity  regards 
rehgion  as  a  matter  of  fact ;  its  doctrines,  as  revealed  facts  ;  its 
evidences  the  occurrence  of  facts,  which  combine  "with  the  charac- 
ter of  the  truths  revealed  to  prove  its  promulgators  to  have  been 
God-sent  men  authorized  of  God  to  declare  his  will.  Every  form 
of  philosophic  unbelief,  on  the  contrary,  proceeds  upon  the  assump- 
tion, in  some  form  or  other,  that  religion  is  a  question  of  reason — 
resting  upon  the  axioms  and  deductions  of  the  understanding,  or 
upon  the  spontaneous  impressions  and  impulses  of  the  human  soul. 
Thus  says  Mr.  Emerson  in  a  tone  of  complaint :  "  The  position 
men  have  given  to  Jesus  is  a  position  of  authority.  The  Faith 
that  stands  upon  authority  is  not  Faith."  Now  viewing  the 
whole  n^at^er.pf  religion  from  this  wrong  stand-point,  no  other 


THE  DIFFICULTIES  OF  INFIDELITY.  547 

consequence  can  follow  than  the  endless  contradictions  and  absur- 
dities here  presented.  For  in  all  these  antichristian  systems  alike, 
there  is  the  omission  of  one  of  the  fundamental  elements  of  hu- 
manit}'  in  the  very  first  announcement  of  the  conditions  of  the 
problem  of  humanity;  and  as  a  matter  of  coarse  all  the  subse- 
quent processes  of  reasoning-,  however  just  and  ingenious,  are 
unavailing-  to  work  out  any  definite  and  satisftictory  conclusion. 
To  use  a  simple  and  familiar  illustration,  the  equations  given  are 
less  than  the  unknown  quantities  whose  values  it  is  the  object  of 
the  reasoning  to  educe.  Hence,  however  various  the  starting- 
points  of  the  several  modern  methods  of  metaphysical  research : 
whether,  as  one  school  declares,  the  starting-point  be  the  material, 
finite  universe  ;  or,  as  another  declares,  the  finite  conscious  self; 
or,  as  a  third,  the  infinite  absolute : — however  diverse  the  fashion 
of  reasoning,  whether  empirical  transcendental,  ideal  subjective, 
ideal  objective,  or  ideal  absolute;  and  however  wide  and  bridge- 
less  the  gulf  between  the  resulting  systems  of  the  universe,  con- 
structed in  these  several  methods  ; — all  of  them  alike  having  failed 
to  recognize  one  of  the  fundamental  elements  of  the  problem,  of 
necessity  fail  to  meet  the  practical  wants  of  man, — as  a  being 
instinctively  conscious  of  his  relation  to  some  judge  supreme,  and 
of  ill-desert  in  that  relation.  And  in  no  portion  of  human  history 
is  there  to  be  found  a  more  forcible  evidence  of  the  fact  that  "  they 
did  not  like  to  retain  God  in  their  knowledge,"  than  in  that  por- 
tion which  details  the  successive  and  contradictory  phases,  and 
the  worse  than  Babel  confusion  of  tongues  of  modern  speculative 
philosophy; — all  growing  chiefly  out  of  the  refusal  of  all  parties 
alike  to  admit  a  revelation  from  God  as  one  of  the  objective  jyhe- 
notne?ia,  and  the  felt  want  of  some  such  revelation  as  one  of  the 
subjective  facts  of  human  nature.  It  will  not  fail  to  suggest  itself 
as  a  singular  fact  to  any  reflective  student,  on  a  survey  of  the 
whole  field  of  speculative  philosophy,  all  covered  now  with  the 
wrecks  of  a  hundred  exploded  systems  ;  that  any  one  of  the 
various  methods  of  constructing  a  theorem  of  the  universe — 
whether  the  materialistic,  the  ideal,  or  the  absolute, — might  have 
satisfactorily  explained  all  the  phenomena  of  the  universe,  if  the 
fact  of  a  Christian  revelation  had  in  good  faith  been  admitted  as 
one  of  the  original  elements  of  such  theory,  and  had  been  allowed 
its  just  influence  in  modifying  the  theory  in  the  progress'of  its  con- 
struction. With  the  admission  of  this  fact,  and  the  light  cast  by  it 
upon  the  spiritual  nature  and  destiny  of  man,  almost  any  form 


548  THE   DIFFICULTIES   OF   INFIDELITl'. 

even  of  the  earlier  English  or  French  materialism  would  have 
been  adequate  to  account  for  all  the  phenomena  of  humanity  and 
of  the  universe.  With  this  fact  and  its  consequences  fully  admit- 
ted, it  matters  very  little  whether  we  adopt  as  a  stand-point  "  the 
me"  (subjective  self)  of  Fichte,  or  the  "  not-me"  (objective  nature) 
of  Schelling,  or  the  absolute  idealism  of  Hegel,  in  our  philosophical 
system.  In  either  case  the  light  derived,  and  the  limitations 
imposed  by  this  admission  of  an  objective  revelation  and  a  corre- 
sponding subjective  spiritual  element  in  humanity,  would  furnish 
an  infallible  preservative  against  the  extravagances  into  which  all 
these  methods  have  hitherto  run.  And  the  practical  differences 
between  the  theories  would  be  analogous  to  the  difference  between 
the  undulatory  and  the  radiating  theories  of  Hght ;  either  of  them 
accounting  for  the  phenomena.  Indeed  the  most  striking  of  all 
the  arguments  for  the  "  necessity  of  a  divine  revelation"  might  be 
drawn  from  a  review  of  the  modern  speculative  philosophy  and  the 
clear  exhibition  of  the  need  of  such  a  revelation,  to  supply  a  miss- 
ing element  in  every  problem  of  the  universe  yet  constructed. 
And  we  say  it  is  but  a  proof  that  the  mind  of  man  is  not  "  natu- 
rally subject  to  the  law  of  God,"  that  this  lack  of  an  essential  ele- 
ment in  the  problem  has  not  been  observed  and  admitted  ;  not- 
withstanding all  the  failures  hitherto  to  solve  the  problem  of  the 
universe.  It  is  held  to  be  the  sublimest  of  all  the  results  of  modern 
phj'sical  science,  that  in  our  age,  the  astronomer  in  his  study 
should  have  established  by  abstract  calculations  the  existence  of  a 
planet  which  hitherto  had  eluded  the  keen  scrutiny  of  a  thousand 
'.elescopes  ;  and  that  he  should  have  handed  over  to  the  astrontaiier 
ji  the  observatory  a  search-warrant  describing  the  very  time 
when,  and  the  place  where,  the  skulking  planet  must  be  for.nd  ; 
when  and  where  it  accordingly  was  found.  And  yet  nothing  can 
be  simpler  than  the  process  by  which  this  sublime  discovery  was 
reached.  It  was  but  the  consequence  of  a  prior  discovery  of  an 
error  in  the  results  which  should  have  expressed  exactly  the  meas- 
urement of  the  orbit  of  a  known  planet ;  an  inference  hence,  that 
since  the  process  of  calculation  is  indubitably  just  and  its  details 
correct — there  is  some  element  missing  from  the  original  data: 
hence  the  suggestion  of  the  disturbing  influence  of  some  unknown 
planet;  and  hence  the  calculation  of  its  place,  and  consequently 
its  discovery.  Why  is  it  that  precisely  analogous  errors  in  the 
projection  of  the  orbit  of  humanity,  have  not  long  since  suggested 
ihe  existence  of  another  element,  overlooked  in  the  very  data  on 


THE    DIFFICULTIES   OF   INFIDELITY.  549 

which  the  whole  theory  is  based?  Why  so  obstinately  close  the 
eyes  to  the  suggestion,  that  in  the  constrnction  of  the  intellectual 
universe,  Reason  may  not  be  a  solitary  planet  moving  through 
immensity  around  the  great  central  mind,  but  that  Faith  also  may, 
as  another  planet,  move  perhaps  through  the  same  region  of  the 
universe,  and  her  orbit  so  cross  that  of  the  sister  planet,  or  have 
some  point  of  contact  with  it,  as  to  render  the  projection  of  the  orbit 
of  the  one  impossible,  without  calculating  the  influence  of  the 
other  ? 

It  is  no  remedy  for  these  errors  to  admit  a  religion  of  nature 
merely,  for  this  is  still  to  assert  the  principle  that  religion  is  not 
a  question  oifact,  but  of  reason  alone.  It  is  no  remedy  either  to 
admit  revelation  in  part  as  subsidiary  to  reason.  For  experience 
demonstrates  most  clearly  that  however  the  votaries  of  the  religion 
of  reason  may  profess  or  even  feel  deep  respect  for  the  Christian 
revelation  ;  or  may  even  admit  revelation  at  some  later  stage  of 
the  argument  as  a  modifying  influence  in  the  system,  and  as 
ancillary  to  the  work  of  reason  ;  the  result  will  in  the  end  be  the 
same,  as  though  no  reference  at  all  has  been  had  to  religion  as 
a  question  of  fact.  Step  by  step  the  votaries  of  a  "  rational  Chris- 
tianity" will  be  driven,  first  to  Deism,  then  to  Pantheism  or  Athe- 
ism. For  of  necessity  a  Christianity  that  consents  to  utter  its  voice 
only  in  obedience  to  what  may  claim  to  be  reason,  is  of  no  higher 
force  than  the  power  which  controls  it.  It  dwindles  therefore,  first, 
into  a  mere  hypothetical  and  visionary  system,  which  can  afford 
no  solid  ground  of  hope  and  comfort  to  the  soul.  Nothing  then  is 
more  natural  than  that  to  a  mind  so  disappointed  in  the  results 
of  its  faith,  revelation  shall  seem  to  be  a  mere  excrescence  on 
natural  religion.  For  a  like  reason  natural  religion  shall  by  the 
same  process  become  to  such  a  mind  a  system  of  mere  empiricism, 
feeble  in  its  arguments,  unsatisfactory  in  its  proofs,  earthly  and 
grovelling  in  its  sanctions.  The  God  of  this  religion,  having  first 
dwindled  into  an  object  within  the  reach  of  human  reason,  shall 
soon  be  degraded  to  the  level  of  humanity  ;  and  finally  as  an  un- 
worthy and  unnecessary  conception, — by  a  higher  philosophy,  be 
banished  from  the  universe.  Hence  the  entirely  fruitless  results 
of  all  the  speculations  in  theology  which  have  assumed  religion 
to  be  merely  a  question  of  reason  during  the  past  three  centuries. 
The  world  has  been  kept  ever  astir  with  the*"  movement"  of  a 
"  progressive"  theology  of  reason,  and  encouraged  by  most  con- 
fident assurances  of  the  speedy  construction  of  a  system  which 


550  THE  DIFFICULTIES   OF   INFIDELITY. 

shall  be  adapted  to  the  more  advanced  stage  of  humanity.  There 
has  indeed  been  "  movement"  enough.  With  an  energy  and 
power  of  genius  never  before  witnessed,  men  have  set  themselves 
to  reinvestigate  first  truths,  and  construct  a  moral  system  of  the 
universe.  There  has  been  "  progress,"  but  it  has  been  progress 
forever  in  a  circle.  The  latest  results  of  Infidelity  in  all  its  forms 
are  approximating  more  and  more  to  the  first  results  of  the  Infi- 
delity of  the  age  immediately  succeeding  the  revival  of  learning. 
And  as  now  we  trace  the  philosophical  history  of  the  last  three 
hundred  years,  we  but  perform  a  voyage  of  circumnavigation.  Aa 
some  traveller  who  having  toiled  over  mountains  and  seas,  through 
sandy  deserts  and  tangled  wilderness,  ever  keeping  his  face  to  the 
east,  finds  himself  at  last  precisely  at  the  spot  whence  he  set  out, 
only  approaching  from  an  opposite  point  of  the  compass,  so  our 
progress  over  the  realms  of  modern  skeptical  philosophy.  We  set 
out  with  Spinoza — that  God  is  the  universe,  and  end  with  Strauss — 
that  the  universe  is  God.  -"' 

Here  then,  in  short,  are  the  theological  difficulties  of  Infidelity. 
Such  is  the  constitution  of  man,  that  he  must  have  a  positive  faith. 
If  Christianity  as  a  system  of  faith  be  held  either  insufficient  or 
defective,  it  behooves  those  who  hold  it  such  to  make  a  better  pro- 
vision for  the  wants  of  the  world.  In  this  provision  there  should 
be  at  least  a  reasonable  degree  of  unity  and  consistency.  But 
you  have  exhibited  nothing  but  a  congeries  of  opinions,  boldly 
announced  indeed  and  obstinately  defended,  yet  all  contradictory 
and  equally  worthless.  Truth  is  unity — truth  is  ever  consistent 
with  itself.  But  you  have  never  yet  united  in  a  single  article  of 
faith.  Each  successive  speculation  destroys  that  which  preceded 
it.  You  claim  progress,  and  ever  hold  out  hopes  of  a  glorious 
goal  to  be  reached — yet  march  in  solemn  procession  ever  in  a 
circle  and  leave  your  followers  at  last,  just  where  you  found  them — 
with  no  God  to  worship — no  retribution  to  fear — no  immortality  to 
hope  for — and  not  a  single  inquiry  of  their  spiritual  nature 
answered. 

II.  The  ethical  difficulties  of  Infidelity  may  be  discussed  within 
much  narrower  limits.  They  are  of  such  a  character  as  to  be 
obvious  upon  a  mere  suggestion  even  to  minds  little  accustomed 
to  abstract  reasoning.  And  (he  relation  of  this  to  the  former 
branch  of  the  argument  is  so  intimate,  as  to  be  rather  in  the 
nature  of  a  corollary  from  it.  At  the  same  time  this  view  of  the 
subject  is  in   many  respects   more   important   than  the  former, 


THE   DIFFICULTIES   OF   INFIDELITY.  551 

especially  from  the  fact  that  the  necessity  of  morahty  to  the  social 
existence  of  man  is  far  more  generally  appreciated  by  the  mass  of 
men — and  the  subject  appeals  more  directly  to  their  present  and 
obvious  interests.  It  will  be  necessary  however  to  confine  this 
branch  of  the  subject  to  a  mere  outline  and  illustration  by  way 
of  specimen  of  the  argument. 

We  deem  it  unnecessary  to  go  into  an  argument  here  to  prove, 
that  the  Infidelity  which  rejects  Christianity,  and  consequently 
the  moral  system  of  Christianity,  is  to  be  justly  held  responsible 
to  supply  some  other  system  of  morals  for  the  government  of 
men.  All  the  reasons  which  have  been  exhibited  already  in 
establishing  the  obligation  of  Infidelity  to  furnish  the  world  with 
a  religious  faith,  apply  here  with  still  more  palpable  force.  Nor 
is  it  needful  to  prove  that  some  moral  system,  of  higher  sanctions 
than  the  mere  penalties  of  civil  and  social  law,  is  essential  to  the 
very  existence  of  men  together  in  a  state  of  society  ;  for  this  point 
is  fully  admitted  by  all  enlightened  skeptics — and  were  it  not,  the 
sad  experience  of  the  world  would  attest  it  beyond  dispute. 

From  the  very  nature  of  the  principles  of  morals — as  arising 
out  of  the  conviction  of  the  relation  of  man  to  a  Supreme  Being — 
it  is  obvious  that  the  view  of  the  creed,  of  skepticism  on  the  sub- 
ject of  God  and  man's  relation  to  God  as  before  presented,  is 
utterly  incompatible  with  any  higher  law  of  morals,  than  that 
which  appeals  to  the  mere  selfishness  of  men.  Without  the  firm 
conviction  of  the  existence  of  a  moral  Ruler — which  conviction  as 
we  have  seen,  is  impossible  under  any  of  the  skeptical  systems  of 
philosophy — there  can  be  no  such  things  as  moral  laws,  except  in 
the  most  vague  and  metaphorical  sense.  Every  man  under  this 
system  is  responsible  to  his  own  mind  only — if  responsible  at  all — 
for  the  moral  character  of  his  actions.  And  therefore  the  only 
guarantee  which  society  can  have  against  the  graspings  of  his 
selfishness — the  prompting  of  his  lusts,  or  the  impulses  of  his 
passions,  save  so  far  as  his  actions  are  done  in  open  day,  is  in 
the  fear  he  may  have  of  his  own  mind.  But  why  shall  he  fear 
himself,  if  a  reasonable  prospect  of  impunity  from  the  vengeance 
of  law  oflTers,  and  a  strong  temptation  of  immense  present  advan- 
tage? He  need  fear  no  self-remorse;  for  Infidelity  has  relieved 
him  from  any  fear  of  an  avenging  Judge,  and  conscience  having 
now  neither  law  to  appeal  to,  nor  Judge  to  threaten  with,  must 
of  necessity  dwindle  into  a  mere  blind  instinct,  whose  cowardly 


552  THE   DIFFICULTIES   OF   INFIDELITY. 

shuddeiings  are  as  unmeaning  and  as  little  to  be  regarded,  as  the 
twitchings  of  a  shattered  nervous  system. 

As  to  anything  like  positive  virtue,  in  any  sense  higher  than 
mere  temporary  expediency,  it  is  obviously  impossible  under  any 
pure  form  of  the  skeptical  theology.  There  is  neither  room  for 
the  play  of  any  of  its  emotions  in  the  soul ;  nor  any  standard  for 
the  test  of  its  character ;  nor  any  motive  to  the  performance  of  its 
appropriate  actions  ;  nor  any  support  in  the  trials  which  it  must 
undergo  in  the  accomplishment  of  them.  Once  mankind  generally 
have  begun  to  doubt  or  to  deny  the  existence  of  a  moral  Ruler  and 
a  future  state,  then  all  that  cultivation  of  the  moral  taste  which 
the  received  notions  of  man's  relation  to  God  necessarily  tends  to 
promote,  must  soon  be  abandoned.  All  reverence  for  humanity  is 
destroyed.  All  motive  to  heroic  actions  is  taken  away.  All 
deeds  of  disinterested  kindness,  all  aspirations  of  a  lofty  and  self- 
sacrificing  Patriotism  cease  to  form  part  of  the  history  of  the  race. 
The  tale  of  romantic  chivalry  shall  be  superseded  by  the  narra- 
tive of  successful  trading ;  the  tale  of  devoted  love,  by  the  hand- 
book of  the  art  of  seducing;  all  political  science  shall  be  reduced 
to  a  question  of  physical  power ;  morality  becomes  a  mere  ques- 
tion of  profit  and  loss — and  the  account  with  conscience  may  be 
kept  by  day-book  and  ledger.  There  being  no  other  protection 
between  each  man  and  danger,  than  a  law  which  can  guard  only 
against  open  acts,  and  which  can  condemn  only  for  deeds  of  guilt 
proven  to  have  been  done,  each  man  becomes  fearful  and  sus- 
picious of  his  fellow ;  this  constant  fear  and  suspicion  begets 
cowardice  ;  and  cowardice  begets  cruelty.  The  struggle  of  mere 
brute  force  for  the  mastery  now  begins,  and  continues,  till  the 
"last  man"  shall  remain  alone  on  all  the  earth.  We  have  not 
the  space  here  to  develop  fully  the  logical  connection  between  the 
skepticism  which  banishes  the  idea  of  a  Providence  and  retribution 
from  among  men,  and  the  utter  destruction  of  human  society.  If 
however  any  one  fail  to  perceive  at  once  the  connection,  he  needs 
only  to  pursue  his  own  reflections  a  short  space,  to  find  that  the 
conception  of  a  God  and  a  future  existence  underlies  the  whole 
field  of  those  human  impulses  and  human  sympathies  which  con- 
nect man  with  man  in  society. 

It  is  very  true  that  these  results  have  not  ver)'^  extensively  fol- 
lowed the  speculations  of  skepticism  hitherto.  The  reason  why 
they  have  not  however  is  the  restraint  still  held  over  men.  by  that 
revelation  w'hich  infidelity  has  professed  to  despise.     Men  are  more 


THE  DIFFICULTIES  OP  INFIDELITY.  SSS 

easily  led  astray  in  matters  of  speculative  opinion  than  in  matters 
relating  to  their  practical  welfare  in  the  present  life.  Hence  many 
who  have  adopted  the  theory  of  skepticism  as  a  theology  have  been 
very  slow  to  adopt  the  system  of  practical  morality  which  necessa- 
rily flows  from  it.  And  thus  a  great  portion  of  men  act  in  the 
teeth  of  their  creed  ;  and  while  they  join  in  the  cry  against  the 
theology  of  the  gospel,  think  it  best  to  let  the  world  abide  by  the 
morality  of  the  gospel. 

But  we  have  not  to  rely  merely  on  logical  deductions  to  prove 
that  the  theology  of  modern  infidelity  must  lead  to  a  subversion 
of  all  ethical  principles.  These  deductions  have  been  made  for  us 
in  many  cases  by  the  skeptics  themselves.  And  all  that  is 
needful  to  the  exhibition  of  the  ethical  difficulties  of  infidelity,  is  a 
reference  to  the  moral  principles  which  it  has  formally  announced. 
Mr,  Hobbes,  in  perfect  consistency  with  his  Theology,  utterly  repu- 
diates the  common  distinction  between  right  and  wrong,  as  incom- 
patible with  the  view  of  man  as  a  creature  of  sensation,  to  whom 
such  ideas  must  be  mere  phantoms.  While  Spinoza,  from  the 
very  opposite  section  of  philosophy,  affirms  the  same  conclusion,  on 
the  score  that  God  being  the  universal  substance,  all  that  happens 
must  so  happen  by  the  energy  of  this  substance,  and  therefore 
there  can  be  no  room  for  the  distincti(^i  between  right  and  wrong 
in  actions  which  all  alike  have  their  origin  in  God.  So  in  later  times 
the  French  successors  of  Hobbes — Voltaire,  Diderot,  and  D'Alem- 
bert — preached  the  morality  which  Robespierre,  Danton,  and  Marat 
practised.  Denying  any  moral  distinction  in  actions,  Diderot 
claimed  for  every  man  the  right  to  do  as  he  pleases,  and  to  choose 
according  to  the  instincts  of  his  nature.  Volney,  in  full  consistency 
with  the  theological  system  of  the  whole  materialistic  school,  held 
self-preservation  to  be  at  once  the  ground  and  the  end  of  all 
morality — that  to  be  right  which  ministers  pleasure  and  prolongs 
life — that  to  be  wrong  which  inflicts  pain  or  shortens  life.  So  revert- 
ing again  to  the  opposite  school  of  idealism — Fichte  affirms  that 
holiness  and  sin  are  only  seemingly  such,  because  of  our  peculiar 
constitution,  and  holiness  and  sin  are  mere  pictures  of  the  brain  hav- 
ing no  inherent,  absolute  nature.  Schelling  subverts  all  moral 
obligation,  by  the  dogma  that  everything,  as  by  a  blind  fatality, 
must  develop  itself  precisely  as  it  is  developed.  In  the  system  of 
Hegel  which  deifies  the  thinking  principle  in  man,  or  that  of 
Cousin  with  its  divine  humanity,  there  is  in  the  nature  of  the  case 
no  room  for  the  ordinary  conception  of  morals;  for  why  should  a 


554  THE  DIFFICULTIES  OF  INFIDELITY. 

divine  humanity  dread  sin  or  strive  after  rectitude?  From  these 
specimens  we  may  see  that  so  far  as  concerns  what  we  may  term 
the  systems  of  pure  and  positive  infidehty,  both  material  and  ideal, 
the  subversion  of  all  moral  distinctions  is  not  left  to  mere  inference. 
The  deductions  are  boldly  made  ;  and  taking  them  as  so  made,  we 
defy  the  ingenuity  of  man  to  devise  a  society  which  could  exist  a 
year  under  their  practical  development. 

The  more  practical  English  freethinkers  had  the  ingenuity  to 
save — or  at  least  making  a  show  of  saving — the  principles  of 
morals,  while  they  aimed  to  subvert  the  theology  of  Christianit5^ 
In  the  true  spirit  of  his  philosophy  Mr.  Hume  merely  doubted,  in 
regard  to  morals.  The  greater  portion  of  the  English  skeptics,  as 
if  to  avoid  the  ethical  difficulties  of  their  less  practical  brethren, 
have  been  inclined  to  elevate  natural,  as  they  depreciated  revealed 
religion  ;  and  thereby,  as  they  imagined,  preserve  the  sanctions 
of  morality  harmless.  Thus  Herbert,  Bolingbroke,  and  Shafts- 
bury,  while  decrying  the  Christian  theology,  yet  claimed  to  be  the 
devotees  of  a  religion  of  nature,  and  pre-eminently  the  instructors 
of  mankind  in  the  principles  of  morality.  But  the  same  sugg^estions 
which  we  have  made  above  as  to  the  intrinsic  feebleness  of  a  mere 
natural  religion,  apply  in  all  their  force  to  the  morality  which  has 
its  foundation  alone  in  the  reasonings  of  natural  religion.  If  reli- 
gion— any  religion  which  is  adapted  to  the  actual  state  of  man  and 
his  wants — must  be  a  question  oifact,  rather  than  of  reason,  then 
also  the  moral  principles  which  shall  guide  men  aright  in  the  mat- 
ter of  duty,  must  have  a  like  positive  ground  in  order  to  give  them 
efficiency.  As  a  religious  faith  which  has  no  other  ground  than 
the  speculative  reasonings  of  men,  is  not  adequate  to  comfort  and 
sustain  the  soul  in  the  hour  of  darkness  and  affliction,  because  it 
is  not  of  authority  and  is  not  positive — nay  more,  because  its 
ground  cannot  be  comprehended  by  the  great  mass  of  men  ;  so 
neither  can  a  practical  morality,  which  is  merely  inferential, 
and  depending  for  its  development  upon  the  subtle  reasoning  of 
mere  "scribes,"  be  of  positive  obligation  sufficient  to  restrain  the 
passions  of  men  in  the  hour  of  temptation — nor  serve  as  an  ever- 
present,  authoritative  guide  to  the  conscience,  in  its  practical  judg- 
ments of  the  every-day  actions  of  life.  Just  as  the  merely  natural 
rehgion  has  ever  a  tendency  to  evaporate  into  subtle  hypothesis 
and  dreamy  sentiment,  so  the  morality  which  derives  its  sanctions 
and  its  energy  from  natural  religion  alone,  is  ever  prone  to  lose  its 
seat  as  judge  in  the  court  of  conscience ;  and  descend  to  the  arena 


THE   DIFFICULTIES   OF   INFIDELIEY.  55S 

of  debate  with  reason,  as  to  its  authority  ;  and  finally  be  hooted 
out  by  the  passions,  as  a  disagreeable  and  impertinent  intruder. 
To  illustrate  by  a  single  case,  the  vagueness  of  the  morality, — 
Bolingbroke  sums  up  all  practical  ethics  in  this  rule  :  "  So  regu- 
late your  appetites  as  will  conduce  to  the  exercise  of  your  reason, 
the  health  of  your  body  and  the  pleasures  of  your  senses,  all  taken 
and  considered  together ;  for  herein  all  true  happiness  consists." 
Imagine  now  the  philosopher  to  come  in  contact  with  some  crea- 
ture of  ignorance,  passion,  and  proclivity  to  vice.  The  sage 
reproves  his  vices  and  discourses  in  lofty  strains  of  the  pleasu7'es 
of  virtue.  But  pleasure  to  any  man  depends  much  upon  his 
tastes.  Imagine  the  devotee  of  sin  to  reply — "  My  lord,  your  tastes 
and  mine  differ — and  you  knaw  there  is  no  disputing  about  taste, 
you  pursue  what  is  the  path  of  pleasure  to  you  in  the  pursuits  of 
speculative  philosophy,  I  not  having  either  your  genius,  education 
or  peculiar  turn  of  mind,  pursue  what  I  conceive  to  be  the  '  pleasure 
of  my  senses'  in  a  reasonable  and  healthy  indulgence  of  what  you 
are  pleased  to  term  vices."  Is  not  the  question  finished?  Unless 
there  be  motives  to  virtue  clear  enough  to  be  comprehended  by 
every  capacity,  and  strong  enough  to  over-ride  the  strength  of 
passion — and  of  certainty  far  beyond  the  reasoning  of  a  mere 
philosopher,  there  can  be  no  such  thing  practically  as  morality  for 
the  great  mass  of  men. 

Another  recourse  of  infidelity  to  relieve  the  system  from  its  ethi- 
cal difficulties — one  very  common  with  the  popular  infidelity  of  our 
own  day — is  the  method  of  separating  the  theology  of  the  gospel 
from  the  morality  of  the  gospel,  and  while  rejecting  the  former  to 
eulogize  and  recommend  the  latter.  Some  distinguished  skeptics 
have  attempted  to  select  out  and  reduce  into  system  the  moral 
precepts  of  Jesus,  throwing  all  else  in  the  gospel  aside  as  worth- 
less. If  however  the  view  which  has  been  taken  of  all  morals  as 
founded  upon  man's  relation  to  God  and  a  future  life  is  correct, 
this  method  of  infidelity  is  peculiarly  absurd.  The  morality  of 
Jesus  without  the  theology  of  Jesus,  is  but  "  the  play  of  Hamlet 
with  the  character  of  Hamlet  omitted."  If  the  theology  of  Jesus  is 
wrong,  his  morality  is  groundless.  It  has  no  authority  save  the 
mere  name  of  a  mere  man,  who  on  this  supposition,  claimed  to  be 
what  he  was  not — it  is  a  morahty  inconsistent  with  itself  and 
with  reason.  Surely  skepticism  must  be  reduced  to  a  great  strait, 
t/iat  it  should  resort  to  such  a  device.     It  is  a  plagiarism  of  a  rare 


556  THE   DIFFICULTIES   OF  INFIDELITY. 

fashion,  that  first  renders  an  author's  views  worthless  and  alsurd, 
and  then  steals  them  from  him ! 

These  mere  suggestions  must  suffice  as  an  illustration  of  this 
branch  of  the  subject.  The  sum  of  the  whole  matter  as  to  the  diffi- 
culties of  infidelity  in  this  view,  is  that  practically  it  leaves  the 
world  without  morals,  and  therefore  without  the  means  of  social 
existence.  For  however  some  of  its  advocates  talk  of  moral  duty 
as  derived  from  the  light  of  nature  and  the  deductions  of  reasoning; 
however  others  may  extol  morality  and  offer  to  patronize  even  the 
strict  system  of  the  gospel,  yet  infidelity  as  a  system  has  and  can 
have  no  principles  of  ethics  which  can  be  comprehended.  It  has 
neither  the  foundation  nor  superstructure  for  the  guidance  and 
enforcement  of  practical  duty.  As  in  its  theology  it  either  denies 
or  doubts  of  a  personal  and  moral  God  of  providence  ;  denies  or 
doubts  any  true  immortality  of  the  soul;  denies  or  doubts 
a  future  retribution  of  happiness  for  the  good,  and  misery  for 
the  wicked ;  so  it  practically  excludes  God  from  all  its  theories 
of  ethics — one  resolves  all  morality  into  self-love;  another  into 
what  is  useful  to  society  ;  another  declares  that  to  be  right  which 
he  thinks  right.  There  is  no  personal  duty  which  some  one  of 
them  does  not  impugn  ;  no  bond  of  human  society  which  some  one 
does  not  burst  asunder.  Having  effaced  the  distinctions  between 
good  and  evil,  and  dug  up  the  very  foundations  of  morals,  they  give 
over  society  to  the  weak  and  blind  guardianship  of  civil  law — as  its 
only  protection  against  all  the  selfish  interests,  and  all  the  base  pas- 
sions which  belong  to  an  uncultivated  and  unrestrained  humanity. 

III.  The  logical  difficulties  of  infidelity,  which  yet  remain  to  be 
considered,  are  so  numerous  and  so  various  in  their  character,  that 
anything  beyond  a  mere  indication  of  their  general  character,  is 
impracticable  within  our  present  circumscribed  limits.  This  is  the 
less  to  be  regretted,  since  on  this  branch  of  the  subject,  the  simple 
suggestion  of  the  points  in  their  proper  order  and  classification 
will  exhibit  the  full  force  of  the  general  argument. 

Adhering  to  the  definition  of  infidelity  as  comprising  all  forms 
of  speculative  belief  which  reject  the  Christian  Revelation,  the 
logical  difficulties  that  pertain  to  it  might  be  classified  under  three 
general  heads,  as  relating  to  the  three  general  forms  of  unbelief — 
the  Atheistical,  the  Pantheistical,  and  the  Deistical.  Our  argument 
confines  itself  mainly  to  the  last.  For  the  logical  difficulties  of 
Atheism  are  in  themselves  so  obvious  and  so  insuperable,  as  to 
have  created  a  very  general  doubt  in  later  times  whether,  except 


THE  DIFFICULTIES  OF  INFIDELITY.  557 

in  the  case  of  partial  insanity,  any  man  can  be  an  absolute 
Atheist.  The  difliculties  that  meet  the  theory  of  an  uncaused  and 
ungoverned  universe  at  the  first  outset,  and  which  follow  it  with 
increasing  power  through  every  stage  of  its  reasoning,  render 
this  scheme  possible  of  belief  only  to  minds  "already  given  over  to 
strong  delusion  to  believe  a  lie."  The  sum  of  the  improbabilities 
in  this  creed — according  to  the  almost  universal  admission  that 
every  effect  must  have  a  cause — is  absolutely  infinite  at  the  very 
outset.  The  marks  of  design  in  every  physical  phenomenon  that 
meets  the  eye — the  hand,  the  ear,  the  heart — every  member  of 
every  living  body  that  exists — indicating  that  it  has  been  formed 
by  some  wise  designer — are  all  so  many  individual  protests  against 
the  Atheist's  creed,  that  all  is  the  work  of  chance,  or  of  a  blind 
uninteUigent  necessity.  Yet  the  sum  of  these  innumerable  phe- 
nomena is  by  no  means  the  exponent  of  the  degree  of  improba- 
bility that  arises  against  this  system.  For  each  individual  mem- 
ber, of  each  individual  creature,  having  certain  fixed  relations  to 
each  other  member,  of  proportion,  harmony,  and  fitness,  becomes 
(to  use  a  mathematical  form  of  expressing  it)  only  the  root  of  a 
power,  whose  index  is  the  number  of  such  members  of  each 
creature  that  exists ;  and  therefore  the  true  expression  for  the 
degree  of  improbability,  at  this  stage  of  the  argument,  is  the  sura 
of  all  the  members  of  the  innumerable  living  existences  of  the 
natural  v/orld,  raised  to  a  power  whose  index  is  the  expression,  for 
the  number  of  organs  in  each  individual  of  all  the  infinite  num- 
ber. Nay,  this  expresses  not  yet  the  degree  of  improbabihty — for 
each  of  these  individual  existences  has  a  relation  to  the  system  of 
which  it  forms  a  part;  which  relation  is  just  as  unlikely  to  have 
been  determined  by  chance,  as  that  by  chance,  any  member  of 
any  individual  creature  should  have  been  formed  as  it  is ;  and 
therefore  the  expression  for  the  degree  of  improbability  at  this 
.stage  of  the  argument  is  again  to  be  multiplied  by  the  infinite 
improbability,  that  in  any  other  way  than  by  a  designing  mind 
the  relation  of  infinite  parts  to  an  infinite  whole  could  have  been 
so  nicely  adjusted ;  since  one  chance  mistake  in  the  happening 
of  its  construction  must  have  destroyed  all  this  harmony  of  rela- 
tion. And  now*  while  the  mind  is  yet  laboring  under  the  stupen- 
dous difficulties  which  the  ordinary  visible  world  thus  heaps  upon 
any  theory  that  denies  a  first  designing  cause ;  astronomy  comes 
in  to  multiply  the  already  inconceivable  sum  of  improbabilities, 
not  merely  by  the  number  of  other  worlds  in  the  systems  to  which 


558  THE   DIFFICULTIES   OF   INFIDELITY. 

this  world  stands  related,  and  then  by  the  imagined  number  of 
systems,  but  by  the  products  arising  from  the  multiplication  of 
the  number  of  worlds  into  the  number  of  the  relations  of  each,  and 
that  by  the  product  of  the  number  of  systems  into  the  number  of 
the  relations  of  each.  In  like  manner,  the  microscope  opening  up 
a  new  world  in  each  minute  particle  of  this  world  as  seen  by  it, 
comes  in  with  its  discoveries  to  swell  the  infinities  which  already 
express  the  chances  against  Atheism,  by  multiplying  all  these 
again  into  the  product  of  the  infinite  number  of  the  individuals 
within  reach  of  the  microscope,  by  the  number  of  the  relations  of 
each  to  its  system,  and  of  each  to  each  other!  An  intelligent  re- 
ception of  absolute  Atheism  is  impossible. 

The  Pantheistic  systems  of  unbelief — alike  those  which  are  con- 
structed after  the  subjective  ("  me"),  the  objective  (not-me),  or  in 
the  logical  process  (ideal  absolute)  theories,  avoid  the  difficulties 
of  the  older  and  more  matter-of-fact  systems  of  Atheism  only  by 
keeping  out  of  the  reach  of  ordinary  earthly  reasonings.  While 
soaring  in  their  Ixionic  flight,  they  rise  beyond  the  reach,  when 
having  suffered  the  Ixionic  fall,  they  sink  beneath  the  contempt, 
of  common  sense  thinkers ;  and  have  therefore  generally  passed 
unanswered  as  to  their  religious  difficulties.  It  is  obvious  that  all 
the  modern  Pantheistic  systems,  denying  in  substance,  any  in- 
telligent personal  First  Cause  instead  of  removing  out  of  the  way, 
only  manage  to  roll  forward  the  stone,  over  which  Atheism  falls 
and  is  broken,  a  step  or  two  farther  into  the  dark.  If  the  thinking 
"I,"  is  the  only  God,  whence  then  the  material  universe?  If 
the  "  not-I"  or  the  external  universe,  be  God.  whence  the  distinctive 
"  I  ?"  Or  if  God  be  the  logical  process  ever  developing, — by  what 
twist  in  that  process  does  thought  develop  matter  ?  It  is  un- 
philosophical  to  assume  the  existence  of  any  material  universe  at 
all ; — then  it  is  at  least  philosophical  to  ask  :  How  came  unphilo- 
sophical  minds  by  the  notion,  that  there  is  such  a  material  uni- 
verse ?  If  the  world  do  not  exist  as  a  phenomenon,  yet  the  notion 
that  it  does  exist  is  indisputably  a  phenomenon,  at  least  to  us  who 
think  so.  If  Pantheism,  by  disputing  the  premises,  may  avoid  the 
obhgation  to  suggest  a  first  cause  for  the  existence  of  the  world, 
it  cannot  avoid  the  obligation  to  suggest  a  first  cause  for  the  very 
generally  prevailing  notion  that  there  is  a  world. 

It  is  more  important,  however,  to  complete  our  view  of  the  sub- 
ject, that  we  invite  your  attention  more  particularly  to  the  difficul- 
ties of  that  form  of  infidelity  which  aims  directly  to  subvert,  and 


THE   DIFFICULTIES  OF  INFIDELITY.  559 

overthrow  Christianity,  by  attacking  the  evidences  of  its  Divine 
authority.  This  brings  us  to  notice,  in  conclusion,  the  logical 
difficulties  of  Deism,  as  exhibited  in  its  assaults  upon  Christianity. 
This  branch  of  the  subject  naturally  divides  itself  into  three 
topics :  the  logic  of  the  skeptical  criticism  as  applied  to  the 
authenticity  and  credibility  of  the  gospel  records  ;  the  logic  of  the 
skeptical  arguments  against  the  subject  matter  of  those  records ; 
and  the  logical  absurdity  of  the  theories  on  which  skepticism  pro- 
poses to  account  for  the  resultant  phenomenon  of  those  records; 
namely  an  existing  Christianity  in  the  world. 

In  reference  to  the  criticism  whereby  skepticism  has  attempted 
to  impeach  the  veracity  of  the  sacred  writings,  which  is  a  primary 
question  on  the  whole  subject,  we  have  room  for  a  single  illustration. 
It  is  a  question  which  cannot  fail  to  occur  to  any  reader  of  those 
commentators  who  have  impugned  the  veracity  of  the  sacred 
authors  ;  why  is  skepticism  so  much  more  hostile  to  these  than  to 
any  other  authors  of  the  same  age  in  history?  As  narrators  of 
facts,  as  historical  witnesses,  wherein  is  Tacitus  superior  to  Luke, 
or  Livy  to  Matthew  ?  As  authors  on  the  philosophy  of  rehgion, 
why  shall  Cicero  "  De  natura  Deoriim^'^  be  treated  with  respect 
and  even  reverence ;  while  Paul  "  De  just ijicat tone,"  is  thrown 
in  disgrace  out  of  the  circle  of  ancient  philosophers  ?  As  beautiful 
philosophical  "  reminiscences,"  why  shall  Xenophon's  account  of 
the  last  conversations  and  the  death  of  his  master  Socrates,  call 
down  the  applause  of  the  schools,  while  John's  account  of  the  last 
discourses  and  the  death  of  his  master  Jesus  be  classed  with  the 
reveries  of  fanaticism,  and  turned  from  with  contempt?  If  the 
works  of  Tacitus,  Livy,  Cicero,  and  Xenophon,  are  known  to  be 
authentic,  from  the  method  of  their  transmission  to  us,  and  by 
reason  of  an  accumulation  of  proofs  in  their  favor,  from  external 
facts  of  all  sorts  and  internal  confirmations — far  more  so  Luke 
and  Matthew,  Paul  and  John.  If  it  be  said  that  Matthew  relates 
incredible  events — so  does  Livy.  If  Paul  deals  in  dark  specula- 
tions about  religion,  so  does  Cicero.  If  John  was  a  blind  and 
devoted  partisan  of  the  persecuted  Jesus,  so  was  Xenophon  of  the 
persecuted  Socrates.  Where  then  is  the  logical  consistency  of  that 
criticism,  which,  when  it  sweeps  off  at  one  stroke  these  writers  of 
the  New  Testament,  does  not  at  once  make  a  "tabula  rasa"  of 
every  page  of  ancient  history  ? 

The  same  genpral  remark  will  apply  to  that  microscopic  criti- 
cism which  has  paraded  before  the  world  its  discoveries  of  the 


560  THE   DIFFICULTIES  OF   INFIDELITY. 

discrepancies  between  the  sacred  writers.  Laying  hold  of  a  series 
of  biographies  of  the  hfe  and  actions  of  Christ  by  four  different 
writers — biographies  remarkable  for  their  minuteness  of  detail — 
relating  chiefly  the  events  of  three  years — describing  the  journeys, 
the  public  discourses,  the  private  intercourse,  the  table-talk  of  an 
individual — this  criticism  discovers  and  parades  in  triumph — one 
as  evidence  of  "  forgery,"  another  as  evidence  of  designed  fable — 
that  one  evangelist  affirms  a  certain  event  to  have  occurred  at  the 
sixth  hour,  while  the  other  affirms  it  was  the  ninth ;  that  one 
says,  Mary  anointed  the  Saviour's /eeif,  another,  that  she  anointed 
his  head  ;  that  one  quotes  as  the  inscription  on  the  cross,  "  This 
is  the  King  of  the  Jews,''^  while  the  other  quotes  it,  "  Jesiis  of 
Nazareth,  King  of  the  Jews."  These  instances  of  such  criticism 
are  not  selected  out  for  their  insignificance,  with  a  view  to  carica.- 
ture,  but  are  taken  at  random,  as  a  fair  average  specimen  of  the 
"  discrepancies"  which  the  combined  skeptical  acuteness  of  the 
vulgar  Paines  and  the  accomplished  Strauss's  have  been  able  to 
discover  in  the  sacred  writings.  Now  we  do  not  aver  that  minute 
criticism  is  in  its  nature  illogical ;  nor  even  that  such  "discrep- 
ancies" may  not  furnish  logical  grounds  for  invalidating  the  tes- 
timony of  these  historians.  But  we  have  a  right  to  aver,  that  if 
this  criticism  is  just  as  against  the  credibility  of  these  historians, 
and  therefore  renders  it  probable  that  the  whole  story  is  a  fable — • 
then  it  is  equally  just  as  against  any  other  historians,  and  renders 
equally  probable  the  fabulous  character  of  all  discrepant  writers. 
Let  the  critics  of  this  school  only  be  consistent.  Because  Claren- 
don aflirrns  that  Strafford  was  condemned  on  Friday  and  executed 
the  same  day,  while  Burnet  affirms  he  was  condemned  on  Friday 
and  executed  on  the  following  Monday, — let  it  be  declared  to  be 
the  logical  inference  that  both  these  histories  are  forgeries,  or  at 
best  but  allegorical  myths  of  the  excited  revolutionary  era  in 
England ;  and  that  Strafford  was  no  real  personage  at  all,  but  a 
mere  nebulous  idea,  which,  after  long  revolving  in  the  English 
mind,  gradually  condensed  into  a  solid  conception  in  the  legends 
of  Clarendon  and  Burnet.  We  remember  to  have  heard  two 
veterans  of  the  American  Revolution,  discussing  some  movement 
of  American  troops  in  the  battle  of  Yorktovvn,  in  which  battle  both 
though  then  very  young  were  actors.  One  spoke  of  the  peculiar 
movement,  as  being  yet  fresh  in  mind  as  the  events  of  yesterday, 
and  that  it  occurred  just  '■^  after  dinner  f  the  other,  who  claimed 
to  retain  a  no  less  vivid  impression  of  the  events  of  that  memora- 


THE   DirFICULTIES   OF   INFIDELITY.  561 

ble  day,  persisted  in  affirming'  that  the  movement  in  question 
occurred  immediately  "  after  hreakfastP  Now  according  to  the 
critical  laws  which  skepticism  applies  to  the  Scriptures,  the  logical 
inference  would  be  a  grave  doubt,  as  to  whether  such  a  battle  ever 
occurred  ;  and  whether  Washington  and  Cornwallis  were  not 
mere  "  mythical"  ideas,  which,  floating  in  the  minds  of  the  Ameri- 
can people  in  that  "  heroic"  and  legendary  age — representing,  per- 
haps, the  conception  of  a  great  national  deliverance  and  a  great 
national  desolation — had  at  length  taken  definite  forms  in  the 
minds  of  these  old  men.  So  of  many  other  aspects  of  this  criti- 
cism— what  shall  be  said  of  the  popular  skeptical  canons  for  the 
testing  of  prophecies  by  comparison  with  the  record  of  their  fulfil- 
ment? Hear  the  grave  announcement  of  Dr.  Strauss :  ''Wher- 
ever we  find  a  narrative  which  recounts  the  accomplishment  of  a 
long-expected  event,  a  strong  suspicion  must  arise  that  the  narra- 
tive owes  its  origin  to  the  pre-existent  belief  that  the  event  would 
be  accomplished  !"  That  is,  when  reduced  to  its  simplest  expres- 
sion— events  which  are  expected  are  less  likely  to  happen,  than 
those  which  are  unexpected — therefore  the  narration  of  the  oc- 
currence of  any  event  which  was  expected  must  be  held  to  be 
suspicious.  In  fact  the  whole  canon  of  the  recent  infidel  tests  of 
genuineness,  may  be  summed  up  in  two  rules.  1.  If  the  accounts 
of  two  evangelists  agree  exactly,  neither  can  be  real  history,  for 
they  obviously  both  borrowed  the  story  from  some  current  fable. 
2.  If  they  diflfer  in  any  particular,  both  are  false — for  two  contra- 
dictory reports  must  obviously  be  untrue.  Nor  is  this  criticism 
very  sparing  in  the  application  of  its  canon.  Matthew's  report  of 
the  sermon  on  the  Mount  is  affirmed  to  be  spurious  because  it  con- 
tains more  than  Luke's ;  and  Luke's  is  of  course  unworthy  of 
••eliance,  because  it  contains  less  than  Matthew's  ! 

We  must  hasten  on,  however,  to  make  at  least  a  passing  observa- 
tion on  the  second  point  suggested  ;  the  application  of  the  skepti- 
cal logic  to  the  subject  matter  of  these  records.  The  first  peculi- 
arity which  will  strike  the  student  of  the  infidel  arguments  on  this 
point  has  reference  to  the  connection  between  the  credibility  of  the 
record  and  the  subject  matter  of  the  record.  When  we  have 
pressed  the  point,  as  above,  of  the  credibility  of  the  sacred  histo- 
rians, especially  their  obvious  equality,  in  this  respect,  with  any 
profane  historians  of  the  corresponding  period,  the  reply  ever  is — 
that  the  events  recorded  by  the  sacred  historians  are  in  themselves 
incredible,  and  therefore  the  relators  of  them  are  unworthy  of 

36 


562  THE   DIFFICULTIES   OF   INFIDELITi'. 

credit.  When,  however,  under  ihis  second  head  we  would  press  the 
force  of  the  testimony  in  favor  of  the  miraculous  occurrence,  we  are 
met  with  grave  doubts  as  to  the  credibility  of  the  witnesses.  Now 
these  two  questions  are  inost  clearly  altogether  distinct,  and  that  is 
a  singular  logic  which  admits  of  such  shifts  to  save  a  point.  It  is  but 
re-enacting  in  the  trial  of  his  gospel,  the  trial  which  Jesus  him- 
self had  at  the  tribunals  of  his  country — being  tried  on  one  charge, 
and  found  guilty  on  another.  Not  a  whit  less  was  it  a  mockery 
of  justice,  to  try  him  in  the  Sanhedrim  for  the  crime  of  blasphemy, 
and  then  condemn  him  before  Pilate  for  the  crime  of  sedition  ; 
than  it  is  a  mockery  of  logic  thus  to  shift  ever  the  issue — when 
after  finding  by  no  power  of  device  of  subtlety  aught  evil  to  say 
against  the  absolute  integrity  of  the  witness,  to  condemn  him  for 
the  extraordinary  character  of  the  event  which  he  attests — or 
when  as  philosophers  debating  the  extraordinary  event  which  he 
relates,  to  re- indict  the  witness  in  the  teeth  of  his  former  verdict 
of  acquittal,  for  bearing  false  testimony.  Does  not  every  man  see 
that  the  character  of  the  witness  for  veracity  is  one  thing  ;  and  the 
nature  of  tlie  event  to  which  he  testifies  is  altogether  another 
thing  ?  Yet  on  this  very  confounding  of  issues  has  modern  Deism 
erected,  in  large  part,  its  accusations  against  the  gospel. 

A  very  similar  logical  inconsistency  runs  through  most  of  the 
deistical  argument  on  the  whole  subject  of  the  relation  of  miracles 
to  the  doctrines  announced  by  those  who  wrought  the  miracles. 
The  design  of  a  miracle,  as  we  conceive,  is  by  no  means  to  estab- 
lish anything  directly  ox  primarily  in  regard  to  the  character  of 
\\\e  truths  delivered  by  him  who  performs  the  miracle.  It  is  but 
the  external  seal  of  a  divine  commission  v/hich  attests  the  right 
of  the  bearer  of  it  to  teach  as  from  God.  It  is  just  in  harmony 
with  the  great  gospel  idea  of  a  religion  otfact^  as  that  which  alone 
can  meet  the  wants  of  men.  And  it  is  this  attestation  from  heaven 
to  the  authority  of  the  teacher,  that  gives  the  gospel  its  peculiar 
adaptedness  to  the  wants  of  men.  It  becomes  thus  a  positive 
faith — a  religion  of  fact.  Aside  from  this,  however,  this  method 
(if  revealing  the  truth  through  teachers,  with  commissions  so 
attested,  has  a  great  advantage,  in  that  hereby  the  world  is  pro- 
tected from  "  false  Christs."  For  a  distinct  ground  of  evidence  is 
herein  set  forth,  which  by  its  concurrence  with  the  intrinsic  excel- 
lence of  the  truths  taught,  and  the  honesty  and  purity  of  the  teacher, 
makes  it  demonstrable  beyond  mistake  that  the  religion  so  taught 
is  of  God.     Accordingly  Jesus  appealed  ever  to  these  three  things 


THE   DIFFICULTIES   OF   INFIDELITY.  563 

as  evidence  of  his  trustworthiness  as  a  teacher ;  the  character  of 
his  doctrines,  the  holiness  of  his  life,  and  the  miracles  which  he 
wrought.  The  truths  which  he  taught  commended  themselves  to 
their  consciences,  his  own  character  was  in  harmony  with  his  doc- 
trine, and  forbade  the  supposition  of  any  sinister  or  selfish  motive 
in  teaching  as  he  did  ;  and  the  signs  and  wonders  which  he  did 
attested  his  authority  to  teach  as  one  come  from  God. 

Now  it  will  be  found  that  the  deistical  argument  against  the 
subject  matter  of  the  Christian  records,  never  yet  has  met  the 
Christian  evidences  as  presented  in  this  concurrent  argument. 
Either  strangely  confounding  these  three  separate  though  concur- 
rent lines  of  proof,  or  not  less  strangely  separating  one  from  the 
rest  and  presuming  the  argument  to  rest  upon  that  alone,  the 
impugners  of  Christianity  create  ever  false  issues,  or  shifting  the 
issue  from  one  to  another  point,  as  the  urgency  of  the  case  may 
seem  to  demand.  They  declaim  against  the  doctrine  of  the  gos- 
pel— especially  its  "  mysteries,"  but  when  so  doing,  first  separate 
these  doctrines  from  their  place  in  the  scheme  of  revelation,  and, 
leaving 'out  of  view  the  facts  which  attest  their  claim  to  be  divine, 
deal  with  them  as  though  truths  of  merely  human  origin.  They 
impeach  the  honesty  and  veracity  of  the  teacher— but  in  order  so 
to  do,  first  separate  them  in  thought  from  the  sublime  truths 
which  they  taught,  and  the  wonders  which  they  did.  They  cavil 
at  the  miracles,  but  in  order  to  give  the  cavil  any  force  they  must 
first  separate  the  miracle  as  a  simple  phenomenon  from  the  intrin- 
sic excellence  of  the  doctrine,  taught  by  him  whose  commission  it 
was  the  purpose  of  the  miracle  to  attest.  These  must  suffice  as 
illustrations — they  are  fair  specimens  of  the  whole  method  of  infi- 
delity in  dealing  with  the  gospel. 

It  now  remains  that  the  logical  absurdities  of  Deism  when  called 
upon  to  account  for  the  existence  of  Christianity  as  a  philosophical 
phenomenon  be  summed  up  very  briefly. 

There  is  at  least  one  point  in  the  whole  matter  upon  which  the 
friends  and  the  enemies  of  Christianity  may  come  together,  and 
in  regard  to  which  even  skepticism  itself  will  have  no  doubts. 
Christianity  exists.  It  is  one  of  the  phenomena  of  the  world's 
history  ;  and  one  important  enough  to  merit  at  least  some  atten- 
tion, simply  as  a  subject  of  philosophic  inquiry,  if  for  no  higher 
reason.  The  believers  in  Christianity  have  a  theory  on  which 
they  account  for  this  phenomenon.  In  a  manner  exactly  analo- 
gous to  that  in  which  they  logically  trace  back  some  of  the  peculi- 


564  THE   DIFFICULTIES   OF   INFIDELITY. 

arities  of  modern  governments — as  die  habeas  corpus,  and  trial  by 
jury,  to  a  certain  era  in  history,  and  a  certain  Saxon  race,  as  their 
origin, — they  trace  the  present  existing  Christian  rehgion  back  to 
a  period  1800  years  anterior  to  the  present,  and  to  a  certain  person 
called  Christ,  from  whom  it  derives  its  name.  Their  logical  pro- 
cess is  in  substance : — This  system  of  religious  doctrine,  ordi- 
nances, and  government  is  now  wide-spread  over  the  world.  It 
did  not  have  its  origin  in  the  last  age,  for  that  is  absolutely  impos- 
sible, being  contradicted  by  every  fact  in  history.  It  did  not  have 
its  origin  in  the  age  before  that,  for  that  is  equally  impossible,  and 
for  the  same  reason.  It  could  not  have  originated  in  any  age  be- 
tween the  last  mentioned  and  the  period  we  have  assigned  to  its 
origin — for  such  a  supposition  does  violence  to  all  the  facts  in  the 
world's  history,  and  no  less  violence  to  known  principles  of  human 
nature,  which  absolutely  forbid  the  supposition,  that  men  would 
submit  to  have  such  a  yoke  put  upon  their  necks  by  those  who 
must  be  palpably  known  to  be  impostors.  It  originated  therefore 
at  the  period,  and  under  the  circumstances  which  it  claims  for 
itself.  To  this  theory  infidelity  demurs, — not  so  much  from  any 
objection  to  the  train  of  reasoning,  as  to  the  conclusion  ;  which 
conclusion  it  avers  is  encompassed  with  difficulties  so  great,  that 
nothing  but  a  credulity  that  defies  all  reason  can  overcome  them. 
Let  infidelity  then  devise  a  theory  attended  with  less  difficulties. 
In  answer  to  this  demand  a  multitude  of  theories  have  been  pro- 
posed, the  most  important  of  which  may  be  reduced  to  four : — 

1.  Christianity  originated  in  priestcraft  and  imposture  during 
the  "  Dark  Ages."     This  is  the  vulgar  Horn-book  theory. 

2.  It  originated  at  the  period  to  which  it  refers  itself,  but  was 
then  the  work  of  imposture  and  falsehood.  This  is  a  theory  of  a 
portion  of  the  French  and  English  infidelity  of  the  last  century. 

3.  It  originated  1800  years  ago,  not  in  imposture,  but  in  the 
ignorance  of  well-meaning  enthusiasts,  who  testify  truly  to  the 
occurrence  of  events,  but  were  prone  to  attribute  natural  events  to 
supernatural  causes.  This  is  the  theory  of  rationalism,  of  which 
Paulus  may  be  taken  as  the  exponent. 

4.  It  originated  1800  years  ago.  Yet  neither  in  imposture  nor 
in  the  ignorance  of  mistaken  men,  but  as  all  other  fabulous  reli- 
gions, in  legends  and  "  myths,"  which  were  designed  by  their 
authors  to  convey  great  moral  truths  under  the  guise  of  allegory, 
but  these  were  mistaken  for  fact  and  reality.  This  is  the  cele- 
brated transcendental  theory  of  Strauss. 


THE   DIFFICULTIES   OF   INFIDELITY.  566 

Now,  not  to  speak  of  the  difRculties  arising  out  of  the  utter  con- 
tradictions of  these  several  theories  ;  take  them  one  by  one,  and 
we  hazard  Httle  in  saying  that  it  requires  infinitely  more  credulity 
to  receive  anyone  of  these  theories  as  true,  than\vould  be  needful 
to  swallow  all  the  contradictions  and  mysteries  that  skeptics  are 
wont  to  ascribe  to  the  Christian  faith.  There  is,  however,  now 
space  for  only  a  single  paragraph  in  regard  to  each  of  them. 

As  to  the  theory  of  priestcraft  and  imposture  in  the  dark  ages, 
there  is  this  insuperable  difficulty.  The  conditions  of  the  problem 
are  contradictory.  It  is  necessary  to  suppose  at  one  and  the  same 
time,  an  acuteness,  shrewdness,  genius  and  capacity  in  the  impos- 
tors altogether  unparalleled  ;  and  at  the  same  time  a  darkness  and 
stupidity  of  the  people  in  the  ages  that  produced  the  impostors 
darker  than  history  takes  any  account  of.  Now  great  men  have 
generally  partaken  somewhat  of  the  character  of  the  age  that  pro- 
duced them  ;  but  this  theory  supposes  the  darkest  and  stupidest 
age  in  the  history  of  man,  to  have  produced  impostors  of  a  genius, 
a  daring  and  an  intellectual  grandeur,  before  which  all  the  illus- 
trious names  of  the  world's  best  and  brightest  ages  sink  into  utter 
insignificance.  That  an  age  stupid  enough  to  have  been  so  im- 
posed upon,  should  have  produced  such  impostors  is  a  greater 
wonder  than  any  wonder  the  impostors  ever  devised. 

The  second  supposition — of  imposture  and  falsehood  1800  years 
ago — involves  all  (he  absurdities  of  the  first,  with  the  additional 
difficulty  of  not  having  the  ^^  dark  age"  in  which  its  impostors 
might  play  off  their  fantastic  tricks.  The  detail  of  absurdities  to 
which  this  theory  leads,  is  so  long  as  to  defy  any  ordinary  limits. 
The  singular  paradoxes  which  its  impostors  exhibit  in  their 
characters  ;  the  union  of  pre-eminent  villainy  with  transcendent 
purity — of  low  artifice  with  heroic  chivalry — of  more  than  satanic 
acuteness  and  forethought  in  arranging  prophecies  and  their  fulfil- 
ment— with  a  stupid  thoughtlessness,  in  exposing  themselves  to 
detection  by  unnecessary  reference  to  names,  places,  and  date?, 
and  unnecessary  letter-writing, — which  would  disgrace  the  flim- 
siest demagogue, — who  is  always  shrewd  enough  to  ^^  cover  up 
his  tracks  /"—all  these  with  an  hundred  other  absurdities  to  which 
this  supposition  drives  us,  mark  it  as  the  product  of  mind  utterly 
"void  of  judgment,"  and  as  the  faith  of  one  "given  over  to  strong 
delusion  to  believe  a  lie." 

The  third  supposition — of  ignorant  integrity — while  at  first  sight 
less  glaringly  inconsistent,  yet  seems  so  only  because  it  has  the 


566  THE   DIFFICULTIES    _F   INFIDELITY. 

advantage  of  more  cautious  and  less  plain-spoken  advocates. 
When  however  the  system  is  fully  and  fearlessly  developed  by 
such  men  as  Paulus — who  seem  to  have  been  happily  constituted 
by  nature  with  no  perception  of  the  ridiculous — we  find  paradoxes 
fully  equal  to  the  "impostors"  of  the  former  supposition.  When 
men  gravely  interpret  the  narrative  of  restoring  sight  to  the  blind, 
as  simply  the  modern  operation  for  cataract,  only  a  little  more 
rapid — or  that  of  restoring  speech  to  the  dumb,  as  but  a  rapider 
operation  of  the  present  German  system  for  teaching  the  dumb  to 
speak — or  that  of  Jesus  calming  the  winds  and  waves,  as  meaning 
simply  that  by  some  now  unknown  mesmeric  power  he  mag- 
netized them — we  may,  without  any  disrespect  to  great  learning 
and  acuteness,  be  disposed  to  laugh.  When,  however,  it  comes  to 
describing  the  doctrine  and  ethics  of  Jesus  as  remarkably />?<re /"or 
the  age  and  the  circumstances,  yet  only  such  as  even  a  self- 
deluded  impostor  with  good  intentions  may  be  conceived  to  have 
developed,  we  shudder  at  the  preposterous  impiety. 

The  supposition  of  an  origin  of  the  gospel  in  mere  "legend" 
and  "myth,"  which  the  stupidity  of  every  age  since  has  mistaken 
for  veritable  history  and  real  transactions,  is  one  about  which  the 
first  '■^  difficnlty^^  must  be  to  conceive  it  possible  for  the  human 
mind  to  have  devised  it.  Indeed  we  are  not  sure,  but  that  we  feel 
prepared  if  challenged  to  the  task  to  show,  that  there  are  this  day 
more  imposing  difficulties  in  believing  the  proposition,  that  a  certain 
Dr.  Strauss  lived  in  Germany  who  projected  this  theory  of  the 
gospel,  than  in  believing  the  proposition  which  asserts  the  most 
remarkable  miraculous  event  in  the  gospel.  Yet  there  is  conclu- 
sive evidence,  and  therefore  in  consistency  with  our  system  of 
logic  we  are  bound  to  believe,  that  a  German  Doctor  has  lived, 
who  gravely  propounded  to  the  world  the  opinion — that  the  per- 
sonage described  by  the  evangelists,  was  an  allegorical  personage; — 
that  these  writers  do  not  mean  to  relate  real  occurrences; — that 
the  hero  of  their  story  is  simply  a  condensation  into  a  concrete 
form  of  certain  nebulous  ideas  of  the  "  legendary  age"  of  the  Jews  ; 
—that  this  fabulous  legend  or  "myth" — unlike  all  other  legends 
which  vanish  from  the  earth  as  soon  as  an  age  of  writing  com- 
mences,— (as  ghosts  at  the  coming  of  the  dawn)  out-lived  the  age 
of  writing;  nay  absolutely  obtruded  itself  upon  the  Augustan 
age  of  the  Roman  Empire  !  Nay  more,  in  that  age  of  lawyers  and 
critics,  who  had  reduced  the  laws  of  evidence  to  a  science— in  that 
age  of  skepticism  and  keen  scrutiny — in  the  face  of  a  learned  priest- 


THE   DIFFICULTIES   OF   INFIDELITY.  567 

iiood  on  the  one  hand,  and  of  skeptical  sadducees  on  the  other,  and 
in  spite  of  the  prejudices  of  a  people  celebrated  for  their  fanatical 
attachment  to  their  religion  ; — this  wonderful  "  myth"  was  mis- 
taken for  truth — yea,  was  adopted  with  zeal  as  a  religion — was 
embraced  by  such  numbers  as  soon  to  revolutionize  the  religion 
of  the  country  that  gave  it  birth  ; — yea,  in  spite  of  the  bitterest  op- 
position and  persecution,  it  spread  and  obtained  power  till  it 
revolutionized  the  Roman  Empire  !  This,  surely,  forms  a  fitting 
finale  to  "  the  difficulties  of  Infidelity." 

From  the  whole  view  of  the  subject  thus  presented  in  mere  out- 
line, it  is  plain  that  whatever  may  be  the  justice  or  the  injustice  of 
the  charge  of  illogical,  stupid  credulity  so  often  hurled  at  Chris- 
tians, it  ill  becomes  infidelity  to  make  the  charge.  Had  it  been 
consistent  with  the  limits  of  this  argument,  it  would  not  have  been 
difficult  to  show  by  a  comparison  of  each  of  the  skeptical  systems 
as  they  passed  in  review  before  us,  with  the  Christian  system,  that 
it  requires  far  less  sacrifice  of  reason  and  common  sense,  and  in- 
volves far  less  credulity  to  receive,  than  to  reject  Christianity. 
That  so  far  as  concerns  the  larger  portion  of  the  skeptical  systems, 
any  faith  in  them  involves  a  degree  of  credulity  so  utterly  prepos- 
terous as  to  be  indicative  of  a  "  mind  void  of  judgment"  given  over 
to  "believe  a  lie."  Whilst  so  far  as  regards  the  very  best  of  the 
skeptical  systems,  the  mind  which  can  work  its  way  through  all 
the  difficulties  that  inhere  in  them  ought  to  find  little  trouble  with 
even  the  greatest  difficulties  of  Christianity.  The  mysteries  of 
Christianity  all  lie  in  a  region  where  finite  reason  cannot,  in  the 
nature  of  the  case,  be  expected  to  reach  them.  The  mysteries  of 
infidelity,  equally  inexplicable,  originate  merely  in  its  own  self-con- 
tradictions. The  religion  which  Christianity  offers  to  the  world  is 
a  religion  oifact,  which  the  learned  and  the  ignorant  alike  can  com- 
prehend. The  rehgion  which  infidelity  presents,  where  it  presents 
any  religion  at  all — is  a  religion  of  subtle  and  refined  speculations  be- 
yond the  comprehension  of  all  but  a  few  learned  and  acute  thinkers. 
The  sanctions  of  Christianity  appeal  directly  to  man's  conscience, 
and  to  his  instinctively  felt  relation  to  God  as  his  Ruler  and  Judge. 
The  sanctions  alike  of  all  the  systems  of  skepticism,  to  the  lowest 
views  of  his  self-interest.  The  evidences  of  Christianity,  aside 
from  the  intrinsic  fitness  of  its  doctrines  to  his  spiritual  nature, 
rest  upon/ac^5,  the  force  of  which  any  man  can  comprehend.  The 
evidence  of  any  system  of  faith  provided  by  skepticism  must  rest 
upon  subtle  and  refined  deductions,  of  the  correctness  of  which 


568  THE   DIFFICULTIES   OF   INFIDELITY. 

even  the  most  learned  can  never  feel  absolutely  certain.  The 
authoritative  standard  of  Christian  faith  presents  a  uniiy,  abso- 
lutely miraculous,  between  men  of  every  variety  of  natural  gifts, 
extending  over  a  period  of  fifteen  hundred  years.  The  diversities 
of  skepticism  are  almost  equally  wonderful,  but  only  as  exhibiting 
the  endless  vagaries  of  the  human  mind.  Christian  philosophy 
with  its  fundamental  fact  admitted  concerning  a  revelation,  can 
explain  on  almost  any  theory  the  phenomena  of  humanity  and 
of  the  universe.  Infidelity  repudiating  that  fact,  runs  into  every 
conceivable  absurdity  in  the  attempt  to  construct  a  theory  of  the 
universe.  Christianity  contains  mysteries.  Infidelity  exliibitg 
endless  contradictions.  Christianity  teaches  doctrines  which 
excite  the  hostility  of  the  human  heart.  Infidelity  promulges 
dogmas  which  do  violence  to  the  human  understanding.  Chris- 
tianity is  accused  of  setting  at  naught  the  laws  of  reason  and  of 
evidence  ;  and  of  opening  a  door  to  all  manner  of  imposture  upon 
the  credulity  of  the  world.  Infidelity  subverts  all  the  laws  of  evi- 
dence, and  if  consistent  with  itself,  makes  all  history  one  vast 
blank.  In  its  sublimest  results  it  leaves  man's  soul  doubtful  of  its 
own  existence,  without  moral  principles  to  guide  and  enlighten  it 
— man's  intellect  to  become  "a  mind  void  of  judgment," — and  the 
whole  race  of  man  to  an  eternal  orphanage,  wandering  forever 
the  sport  of  a  fitful  chance,  or — what  is  no  better — left  to  the 
guidance  of  certain  blind  "  natural  laws,"  or  to  the  iron  rule  of  a 
cold  and  heartless  destiny. 


^  4» 


€{ie  Jfluriil  €ifnU  of  Cliristianiti} 


BY 

REV.   N.   L.  RICE,   D.D., 


That  men  are  fallen  creatures,  the  past  history  and  the  present 
condition  of  the  world  sufficiently  prove.  Christianity  j>rofesse3 
to  reveal  the  only  means  by  which  they  can  be  restored  to  the  favor 
of  God  and  to  happiness.  Two  great  difficulties  stand  in  the  way 
of  such  restoration,  viz. :  tlieir  legal  responsibilities  and  their  moral 
character.  As  transgressors,  all  are  condemned  ;  as  sinners  they 
are  hateful  to  God,  and  are  miserable.  Christianity  offers  gratui- 
tous justification  through  the  atonement  of  Jesus  Christ,  and  sanc- 
tification  by  the  Holy  Spirit  through  revealed  truth.  It  proposes  to 
secure  to  those  who  embrace  it,  a  title  to  an  eternal  inheritance, 
and  to  fit  them  for  its  enjoyment.  Sinful  affiictions,  as  the  Scrip- 
tures teach,  are  necessarily  the  cause  of  misery.  Perfect  happi- 
ness, therefore,  cannot  be  enjoyed,  unless  perfect  holiness  be 
attained. 

The  chief  means  by  which  the  moral  perfection  of  human  na- 
ture is  to  be  accomplished,  is  the  truth.  "  Ye  shall  know  the 
truth,"  said  our  Saviour  to  the  Jews  who  believed  on  him,  "and 
the  truth  shall  make  you  free."  "  Sanctify  them  through  thy 
truth,"  he  prayed  for  his  disciples,  "thy  word  is  truth."  Chris- 
tianity is  eminently  distinguished  from  all  other  systems  of  religion, 
in  that  the  affections  it  requires,  and  the  virtues  it  inculcates,  arise 
and  are  matured  in  connection  with  correct  views  of  truth.  The 
service  it  demands,  therefore,  being  obedience  to  the  truth,  is  emi- 
nently a  "  reasonable  service."  The  doctrine  of  the  Scriptures  is, 
that  the  tendency  of  moral  and  reUgious  truth  is  to  produce  virtu- 
ous affections  and  upright  conduct;  the  tendency  of  error,  the  re- 
verse. False  teachers,  therefore,  as  our  Saviour  taught,  are  to  be 
distinguished  from  the  true  "by  their  fruits" — that  is,  by  theeflfects 
of  their  doctrines  upon  their  own  moral  character,  and  upon  that 
of  their  followers.  One  might  as  reasonably  expect  to  gather 
grapes  from  thorns,  or  figs  from  thistles,  as  to  find  true  virtue  the 
result  of  false  principles.  The  same  idea  is  beautifully  expressed 
by  Bacon — "  Truth  and  goodness  differ  but  as  the  seal  and  the 
print ;  for  truth  prints  goodness."     I  think,  I  may  venture  to  as- 


572  THE   MORAL   EFFECTS   OF   CHRISTIANITY. 

sume  the  truth  of  this  principle  without  labored  argument,  and 
may  venture,  without  the  fear  of  contradiction,  to  found  upon  it 
the  following  proposition,  viz. : — 

There  is  no  safer  test  of  the  truth  of  any  system  of  religious 
belief,  than  its  practical  effects  upon  those  who  embrace  it.  If  the 
practical  effects  of  any  system  are  partly  good  and  partly  bad, 
then  it  is  partly  true  and  partly  false.  If  they  are  wholly  good, 
then  it  is  wholly  true.  But  in  looking  for  the  effects  of  Chris- 
tianity we  must  be  careful  not  to  attribute  to  it  effects  which  it 
does  not  produce.  Mistakes  on  this  point  have  thrown  upon  it 
most  unmerited  reproaches,  and  have  driven  multitudes  to  infi- 
delity. That  we  may  avoid  such  an  error,  and  obtain  a  fair  view 
of  this  important  subject,  I  remark — 

1.  Christianity  cannot  be  justly  held  responsible  for  evils  exist- 
ing iphere  its  doctrines  and  ivorship  have  been  materially  changed 
and  corrupted.  It  is  not  fair,  for  example,  to  charge  Christianity 
with  the  ignorance  and  the  immorality  which  prevail  in  coun- 
tries, where  Roman  Catholicism  predominates.  For  there  the 
people  have  not  access  to  the  Scriptures ;  and  the  doctrines  of  the 
gospel  have  been  corrupted  by  a  multitude  of  human  traditions, 
and  by  the  interpretations  of  a  corrupt  priesthood.  We  are  here 
to  defend  Christianity  as  it  is  presented  to  us  in  the  Bible  alone. 

2.  Nor  is  Christianity  to  be  held  responsible  for  evils  resulting 
from  interpreting  the  Scriptures  according  to  popular  systems 
of  philosophy.  Both  in  ancient  and  modern  times  not  a  few  pro- 
fessed expounders  of  the  Scriptures  have  insisted,  that  philosophy 
must  furnish  the  key  to  the  right  understanding  of  them.  Origen, 
the  most  learned  of  the  Christian  fathers,  employed  all  his  learning 
and  ingenuity  in  the  vain  effort  to  harmonize  the  doctrines  of 
Revelation  and  the  philosophy  of  Plato  and  his  followers.  To  do 
this,  it  became  necessary  to  neglect  the  obvious  meaning  of  the 
language  of  the  Scriptures,  and  to  adopt  the  most  fanciful  methods 
of  interpretation  ;  and  it  is  not  difficult  to  trace  many  of  the 
most  absurd  superstitions  of  the  dark  ages  to  the  unnatural  union 
of  false  philosophy  and  Christianity.  And  in  modern  times  many 
learned  men  in  Germany  have  attempted  to  expound  the  Bible  in 
accordance  with  a  system  of  philosophy  which  denies  the  possi- 
bility of  inspiration.  "Esteeming  themselves  wise,  they  became 
fools."  The  same  philosophy  which  declared  inspiration  an  im- 
possibility, drove  its  admirers  into  the  glaring  absurdities  of 
Pantheism. 


THE   MORAL   EFFECTS   OF   CHRISTIANITY.  573 

T[ie  Bible  was  not  written  exclusively  or  chiefly  for  learned  men, 
but  for  the  people;  and  its  writers  intended  to  be  understood.  We 
insist,  tlierefore,  that  it  be  understood  according  to  the  obvious 
meaning  of  its  language  ;  and  we  are  prepared  to  abide  the  result. 
If,  when  thus  interpreted,  its  effects  are  bad.  let  its  claims  be  rejected. 

3.  Christianity  cannot  be  expected  to  produce  its  legitimate  fruits 
where  church  and  state  are  united.  The  church  is  trammelled  by 
the  legislation  of  men  who  neither  understand  the  doctrines,  nor 
regard  the  precepts  of  the  gospel ;  and  civil  honors  and  worldly 
gain  bribe  corrupt  men  to  enter  her  pale,  and  to  seek  the  ministerial 
office.  If  you  would  judge  fairly  of  any  system  of  religion  or  of 
morals,  examine  its  fruits  where  it  stands  on  its  own  merits,  and 
makes  its  own  impress  upon  the  characters  of  men.  Christianity 
has  achieved  her  most  glorious  triumphs,  when  the  world  stood  in 
open  hostility  to  her ;  and  she  asks  still  to  be  allowed  to  stand  forth 
in  the  majesty  and  power  of  truth,  and  to  be  judged  by  her  fruits. 

4.  It  is  important  to  remark,  that  Christianity  proposes  gradu- 
ally to  purify,  not  instantly  to  perfect  those  who  embrace  it.  Their 
progress  is  as  the  growth  of  the  human  body  from  infancy  toman- 
hood,  or  as  the  gradually  increasing  light  from  the  early  dawn  to 
"the  perfect  day."  Even  the  Apostles  of  Christ  professed  not  to 
have  attained  perfect  holiness,  but  only  to  be  pressing  toward  it. 
We  must,  therefore,  expect  to  find  imperfections  even  in  sincere 
Christians,  and  still  greater  imperfections  in  the  church,  since  it  is 
impossible  entirely  to  exclude  from  its  pale,  self-deceived  or  hypo- 
critical men.  But  when  evils  do  appear,  fairness  and  candor  re- 
quire us,  before  admitting  them  as  evidences  against  the  claims 
of  Christianity,  to  inquire,  whether  they  are  the  result  of  adhe- 
rence to  its  doctrines,  or  of  departure  from  them.  If  the  former  be 
true,  an  argument,  we  acknowledge,  is  thus  presented  against  its 
claims  ;  if  the  latter,  those  very  evils  prove  its  truth.  The  skill 
of  a  physician  is  as  clearly  proved  by  the  fact  that  his  patients 
suffer  by  departing  from  his  prescriptions,  as  that  their  health  is 
improved  by  regarding  them. 

We  are  now  prepared  to  inquire  into  the  practical  tendencies  of 
Christianity.  These  are  so  numerous  and  so  important,  that  we 
can  do  little  more,  in  a  single  discourse,  than  glance  at  the  more 
prominent. 

I.  Our  first  inquiry  shall  be  concerning  the  moral  effects  of 
Christianity.  Sin,  as  the  Scriptures  teach,  is  not  only  dishonoring 
to  God,  whose  moral  image  it  effaces  from  the  human  mind,  and 


674  THE   MORAL   EFFECTS   OF   CHRISTIANITY. 

whose  law  it  transgresses,  but  is  the  proHfic  cause  of  all  the  degra- 
dation and  misery  in  our  world.  The  intelligent  and  candid  phi- 
losopher must  acknowledge  the  truth  of  this  doctrine.  For  it  is 
not  reasonable  that  free  mor^l  agents  under  the  government  of  an 
infinitely  perfect  God,  should  be  made  wretched,  or  m  any  degree 
unhappy  without  guilt;  and  a  large  portion  of  the  sufferings  of 
men  are  traceable  directly  to  sin.  When,  therefore,  the  Scriptures 
teach,  that  the  attainment  of  perfect  holiness  is  essential  to  the 
enjoyment  of  perfect  happiness,  they  may  safely  appeal  to  sound 
philosopliy  for  a  confirmatory  testimony. 

What,  then,  are  the  moral  tendencies  of  Christianity?  We 
may  answer  this  question  either  by  inquiring  into  the  character  of 
its  doctrines,  and  judging  from  what  we  know  of  human  nature, 
what  must  be  the  effects  of  such  doctrines  upon  it,  or  by  ascer- 
taining from  history  what  effects  it  has  actually  produced.  We 
propose  very  briefly  to  adopt  both  these  methods. 

To  produce  upon  the  human  mind  the  best  moral  impressions, 
there  must  be  a  perfect  moral  code — a  code  perfect  in  its  require- 
ments and  in  its  system  of  motives.  Such  a  moral  code  we  find 
in  the  Scriptures.  This  truth  has  been  so  ably  presented  in  pre- 
ceding lectures  of  this  course,  that  I  need  do  no  more  than  state 
a  few  leading  principles. 

1.  The  God  whom  Christianity  teaches  us  to  love  and  to  worship, 
is  a  being  of  infinite  holiness.  The  seraphim  around  his  throne  cry 
one  to  another,  "  Holy,  holy,  holy  is  the  Lord  of  hosts  !"  Now,  no 
truth  is  more  evident,  than  that  the  moral  characters  of  men  are,  to 
a  very  great  extent,  moulded  by  the  character  of  the  being  Vi^hom 
they  worship.  In  him  they  recognize  the  highest  perfection,  and 
it  is  their  supreme  desire  to  please  him.  His  attributes  are  the 
constant  theme  of  their  admiring  contemplation.  No  one  wonders, 
that  the  worshippers  of  Bacchus  were  drunkards,  or  that  those  of 
Venus  were  licentious.  In  view  of  this  principle,  what,  we  ask, 
must  be  the  moral  influence  of  the  character  of  the  God  of  Reve- 
lation— a  God  of  inflexible  justice,  of  infinite  truthfulness,  of 
boundless  benevolence— possessing,  in  an  infinite  degree,  every 
moral  perfection  ?  But  God  has  come  nigh  to  us.  "  The  Word 
was  made  flesh,  and  dwelt  among  us."  God  was  "  manifest  in  the 
flesh."  We  have  before  us  in  the  Gospels,  the  history  of  his  life 
and  labors.  He  was  "  holy,  harmless,  undefiled,  and  separate  from 
sinners."  And  an  Apostle  exhorts—"  Let  the  same  mind  be  in 
you  which  was  also  in  Christ  Jesus."     The  Christian  is  the  disciple, 


THE   MORAL   EFFECTS   OF   CnRISTIANITY.  575 

the  follower  of  Christ.  In  him  he  beholds  and  admires  "  all  human 
beauties,  all  divine."  How  powerful  the  effect  of  such  an  exam- 
ple— an  example  of  meekness  and  gentleness,  of  uprightness  and 
holiness,  of  benevolence  and  good  doing. 

2.  The  moral  law,  is  like  its  glorious  Author,  perfect.  No  sin 
was  ever  committed  which  it  does  not,  directly  or  indirectly,  forbid. 
No  virtue  ever  adorned  the  human  mind,  which  it  does  not  incul- 
cate. No  relation  which  God  has  constituted  or  allowed,  the  duties 
of  which  it  does  not  prescribe.  Husband  and  wife,  parent  and 
child,  master  and  servant,  ruler  and  subject, — all  find  in  it  their 
duty  and  their  reward  ;  whilst  the  foundation  of  universal  benev- 
olence is  laid  in  the  truth,  that  all  men  are  the  children  of  the 
same  Father,  and  in  that  other  truth—that  "lie  hath  made  of  one 
blood  all  nations."  This  law  lays  hold  on  the  heart's  affections 
and  places  them  on  proper  objects.  '-Love  is  the  fulfilling  of  the 
law" — love  supreme  to  God,  and  equal  love  to  man.  Christianity, 
unlike  all  other  systems  of  religion,  is  not  satisfied  with  forms, 
rites  and  ceremonies.  It  demands  "clean  hands  and  a  pure 
heart."  Could  the  hearts  of  all  men  be,  at  this  moment,  brought 
into  conformity  to  its  requirements,  the  ten  thousand  streams  of 
misery  that  flood  the  earth,  would  be  instantly  dried  up,  and  ten 
thousand  streams  of  joy  would  be  instantly  opened. 

3.  Christianity,  whilst  it  calls  upon  men  to  "follow  holiness,'* 
presses  upon  their  minds  every  possible  motive  to  holiness,  in  its 
fullest  strength.  It  appeals  to  the  lUiderstaiidmg-,  and  claims  a 
"  reasonable  service."  It  says  to  men — "  Come  and  let  us  reason 
together."  God  is  your  Creator,  supporter,  benefactor,  redeemer; 
is  it  not  reasonable  tliat  you  should  serve  him?  It  appeals  to  the 
conscie?ice.  God  is  glorious ;  are  you  not  bound  to  adore  and 
praise  him  ?  Is  it  too  much  for  the  Creator,  and  the  author  of 
''every  good  gift  and  every  perfect  gift,"  to  claim  the  affections  and 
the  service  of  the  creature  1  Is  not  man  most  solenmly  bound  to 
love  Him  by  whom  he  was  loved  even  unto  death? — who  gave  his 
life  a  ransom  for  him?  Christianity  appeals  to  the  affections. 
liOok  upon  "  the  king  in  his  beauty,"  and  admire  him.  Think 
of  his  fen  thousand  unmerited  gifts — above  all,  of  "  his  unspeaka- 
ble gift"— and  be  grateful.  Consider  all  he  has  done  and  all  he 
offers  to  do  for  you,  and  then  exclaim — "  Bless  the  Lord,  O  ni};^ 
soul,  and  forget  not  all  his  benefits."  Christianity  appeals  to  the 
interests  of  men.  They  are  averse  to  misery,  and  they  desire 
happiness.     It  says  to  the  righteous — "  it  is  wclL"  but  "  woe  to 


576  THE    MORAL   EFFECTS   OF   CHRISTIANITY. 

the  wicked."  It  teaches  that  sin  destroys  peace  of  mind  even  in 
this  life.  "  There  is  no  peace,  saith  my  God,  to  the  wicked."  It 
places  before  us  the  doctrine  of  a  particular  providence — a  provi- 
dence extending  not  only  to  every  individual  of  the  human  race, 
but  even  to  the  sparrow  sold  for  half  a  farthing;  and  upon  this 
doctrine  it  founds  another  of  vast  practical  importance — that  the 
path  of  duty  is  always  the  path  of  safety  and  of  prosperity.  Wis- 
dom's ways  are  pleasantness,  and  all  her  paths  are  paths  of  peace, 

Christianity  proclaims  man  immortal,  and  that  the  present  life 
is  probationary — a  preparation  for  the  next,  which  is  eternal.  It 
opens  before  him  the  deep,  eternal  degradation,  and  fearful  ruin 
into  which  sin  will  inevitably  plunge  him.  It  holds  up  before 
him  a  crown  of  glory  and  of  honor  that  fades  not,  to  be  placed  on 
the  head  of  him  who  perseveres  in  holy  living.  When  the  world 
would  tempt  him  from  virtue's  path,  it  asks  him — "What  will  it 
profit  a  man,  if  he  gain  the  whole  world,  and  lose  his  soul?" 

The  Christian  regards  himself  as  a  pilgrim  on  the  earth,  and  is 
accustomed  to  think  of  heaven  as  his  eternal  home.  When  he 
thinks  of  the  shortness  of  life,  he  thinks  also  of  his  nearness  to 
heaven.  When  weary  of  the  cares,  toils  and  troubles  of  life,  he 
looks  with  delight  to  heaven  as  his  rest.  Now,  no  principle  of 
human  nature  is  better  understood,  than  that  its  character  is 
moulded  very  much  by  the  objects  of  frequent  and  pleasing 
thought;  nor  is  anything  more  natural,  than  that  one  should  en- 
deavor to  become  fitted  for  the  station  he  expects  and  desires  to 
fill.  But  the  heaven  of  which  the  Christian  thinks  so  constantly 
and  with  so  much  pleasure,  is  a  holy  place— a  place  of  holy  em- 
ployments and  holy  joys ;  and  without  holiness  none  shall  enter 
within  its  portals.  "Blessed  are  they  that  do  his  commandments, 
that  they  may  have  right  to  the  tree  of  life,  and  may  enter  in 
through  the  gates  into  the  city."  How  powerful  the  influence  of 
the  hope  of  such  a  heaven  in  elevating  and  purifying  the  affec- 
tions. As  often  as  the  Christian  thinks  of  heaven,  he  thinks  of  its 
spotless  purity,  and  feels  powerfully  impelled  to  "follow  holiness," 
without  which  he  cannot  hope  to  enjoy  it. 

Christianity  brings  those  who  embrace  it,  under  the  most  solemn 
promise  to  live  a  life  of  holiness,  to  avoid  even  the  appearance  of 
evil.  The  promise  is  made,  not  to  man,  but  to  God.  The  baptis- 
mal water,  the  emblem  of  purity,  seals  the  promise,  and  conse- 
crates him  forever  to  the  service  of  the  God  of  holiness ;  and  God 
promises  to  bless  him  in  his  endeavors  to  cultivate  virtue.     And  as 


THE   MORAL   EFFECTS   OF   CIIRISTIANITY.  577 

often  as  he  partakes  of  tlie  Lord's  Supper,  he  renews;  tliat  solemn 
covenant  engagement,  and  is  reminded  by  the  broken  bread  and 
the  flowing  wine,  that  Jesus  Christ  died  "to  redeem  us  from  all 
iniquity,  and  to  purify  unto  himself  a  peculiar  people,  zealous  of 
good  works."  Whatever  influence,  then,  can  be  exerted  by  prom- 
ises the  most  sacred,  often  and  most  solemnly  repeated,  is  exerted 
by  Christianity  to  presicrve  from  sin  those  who  embrace  it. 

The  moral  character  of  men  is  powerfully  influenced  by  the 
sentiments  and  example  of  those  with  whom  they  associate.  In 
view  of  this  principle  of  human  nature,  Christianity  brings  its 
subjects  into  an  organized  bod}^ — the  church.  Thus  each  indi- 
vidual is  sustained  by  those  of  similar  views  and  aims. 

Such  are  the  moral  influences  which  Christianity  brings  to  bear 
on  the  minds  of  those  who  embrace  it.  And  we  may  boldly  chal- 
lenge the  infidel  to  find  a  single  defect  in  its  moral  code,  or  to  sug- 
gest a  single  additional  motive,  or  even  to  add  one  particle  of 
strength  to  any  motive  presented  by  the  gospel.  Whatever  can 
be  done,  therefore,  by  reason,  and  motive,  and  encouragement  tu 
make  men  virtuous,  Christianity  does,  and  does  perfectly.  "The 
law  of  the  Lord  is  perfect,  converting  the  soul."  It  approaches  the 
mind  by  every  avenue,  lays  hold  of  every  faculty,  and  nijoulds  the 
whole  man  to  virtue.  Its  fruits  are  wholly  good  ;  and  it  is  wholly 
true. 

Does  the  history  of  Christianity  sustain  us  in  these  positions? 
We  affirm  that  it  does.  When  Jesus  Christ  appeared  on  earth, 
he  found  the  Jews  in  deep  moral  degradation,  having  substituted 
forms  and  ceremonies  for  the  virtues  of  religion,  zealous  in  the 
observance  of  their  traditionary  ablutions,  and  in  tithing  "  mint, 
anise  and  cummin,"  but  utterly  forgetful  of  "  the  weightier  mat- 
ters of  the  law."  The  surrounding  nations  were  enveloped  in  the 
midnight  darkness  of  a  degrading  polytheism,  which  the  intricate 
speculations  of  Grecian  and  Roman  philosophers  had  utterly  failed 
to  dispel.     "  The  world  by  wisdom  knew  not  God." 

But  at  the  preaching  of  the  gospel  the  Jew  turned  from  his 
shadowy  rites  to  cultivate  the  virtues  of  an  elevated  piety ;  and 
the  Gentile  abandoned  his  images  of  wood  and  stone  to  worship 
the  high  God  of  heaven.  In  the  former,  an  expansive  benevolence 
took  the  place  of  narrow  bigotry ;  and  in  the  latter,  pure  morality 
was  substituted  for  degrading  rites  and  beastly  pollutions.  "  Cer- 
tainly," says  Wadsworth,  "the  character  of  the  first  Christians 
presents  to  us  a  singular  spectacle  of  virtue  and  piety,  the  more 

37 


678  THE  MORAL  EFFECTS  OF  CHRISTIANITY. 

splendid  as  it  was  surrounded  by  very  mournful  and  very  general 
depravity."  "  Is  there  anything  more  unquestionable,"  asks  the 
learned  Witherspoon,  "or  that  hath  been  more  frequently  ob- 
served, than  that  the  victory  of  truth  over  error,  in  the  first  ages 
of  Christianity,  was  much  more  owing  to  the  shining  piety  of  the 
primitive  Christians  in  general,  together  with  the  patience  and 
constancy  of  the  martyrs,  than  to  any  other  means?" 

Even  the  uncandid  and  sarcastic  infidel  Gibbon  was  constrained 
to  baar  testimony  to  the  eminen;  virtues  of  the  primitive  Chris- 
tians. He  felt  it  incumbent  on  him,  in  writing  the  history  of  the 
Decline  and  Fall  of  the  Roman  Empire,  to  account  for  the  aston- 
ishing success  of  a  religion  which  he  would  not  allow  to  have 
come  from  God ;  and  strangely  enough  he  accounts  for  it  in  part 
from  the  extraordinary  purity  of  the  morals  of  its  early  converts. 
"  The  primitive  Christian,"  he  remarks,  "demonstrated  his  faith  by 
his  virtues,"  And  so  far  from  intimating  that  there  was  any  lack 
of  purity  in  their  morals,  he  considered  them  excessively  severe. 
"It  is,"  says  he,  "a  very  honorable  circumstance  for  the  morals  of 
iprimitive  Christians,  that  even  their  faults,  or  rather  errors,  were 
derived  from  an  excess  of  virtue."  Truly  this  is  an  important 
'testimony.  An  infidel  historian  is  constrained  to  testify,  that  such 
were  the  purity  and  the  excellence  of  the  character  of  the  primi- 
tive Christians,  as  to  convince  multitudes  who  observed  their  con- 
duct, that  the  religion  producing  such  fruits  was  from  heaven. 
When  was  a  similar  testimony  borne  in  favor  of  any  other  system 
of  religious  belief? 

*  And  here  it  is  worth  while  to  adduce  the  testimony  of  Pliny, 
the  Roman  governor,  to  the  virtues  of  the  Asiatic  Christians.  In 
executing  upon  them  the  persecuting  laws  of  Trajan,  the  em- 
peror, it  became  his  duty  to  inquire  judicially  into  their  character 
and  conduct.  But  in  searching  out  their  crimes  he  was  con- 
strained to  acknowledge  their  virtues.  He  ascertained,  as  he  in- 
formed the  emperor,  that  "  they  bind  themselves  by  an  oath,  not 
to  the  commission  of  any  wickedness,  but  not  to  be  guilty  of  theft, 
or  robbery,  or  adultery,  never  to  falsify  their  word,  nor  to  deny  a 
pledge  committed  to  them,  when  called  upon  to  return  it."  Nearly 
a  century  later,  as  Gibbon  remarks,  "  TertuUian,  with  an  honest 
pride,  could  boast,  that  very  few  Christians  had  suffered  by  the 
hand  of  the  executioner,  except  on  account  of  their  religion." 

It  is  true,  a  sad  change  was  witnessed  in  the  piety  and  morality 
■^of  the  church  in  succeeding  ages ;  but  this  very  change  affords 


THE   MORAL  EFFECTS  OP  CHRISTIANITY.  579 

» 

evidence  conclusive  in  favor  of  Christianity.  For  it  took  place 
just  in  proportion  as  the  Scriptures  ceased  to  be  the  sole  rule  of 
faith  and  of  life,  and  as  the  doctrines  of  the  gospel  were  corrupted 
by  pagan  philosophy  and  by  vain  traditions.  It  is  well  known, 
that  during  that  long  period  emphatically  and  appropriately  called 
the  dark  ages,  the  Bible  was  a  prohibited  book ;  and  it  is  equally 
certain,  that  in  churches  where  it  was  still  read  by  the  people,  as 
among  the  Waldenses,  no  sucfi  corruption  in  morals  occurred. 

But  the  Reformation  of  the  sixteenth  century  was  emphatically 
a  Bible  reformation.  The  fundamental  principle  of  it  was,  the 
Bible  alone  the  rnle  of  faith  and  of  conduct.  Its  ministers  pro- 
claimed the  doctrines  and  the  morality  of  the  Scriptures;  and  it 
placed  the  sacred  volume  in  the  hands  of  the  people.  A  great 
reformation  in  morals  was  one  of  the  results.  If  you  would  judge 
fairly  of  the  moral  effects  of  Christianity,  begin  with  comparing 
the  morality  of  pagan  nations  with  that  of  Christian  nations — 
nations  where  the  Scriptures  are  freely  circulated,  and  the  doc- 
trines of  the  gospel  freely  proclaimed.  Compare,  for  example, 
India  with  Scotland  !  What  a  contrast,  as  between  midnight 
and  noonday.  Then  compare  countries  nominally  Christian,  but 
where  the  Bible  is  a  prohibited  book,  and  its  doctrines  corrupted 
by  human  tradition,  with  countries  where  the  principles  of  the 
Reformation  prevail,  and  where  the  Scriptures  are  in  the  hands  of 
the  people,  and  are  regarded  as  the  only  unerring  guide  in  faith 
and  morals.  Compare  Spain,  Portugal  and  Italy  with  England, 
Scotland  and  the  United  States.  De  Tocqueville  asserts,  that 
"there  is  no  country  in  the  whole  world  in  which  the  Christian 
religion  retains  a  greater  influence  over  the  souls  of  men  than  in 
America ;"  and  he  adds — "  There  can  be  no  greater  proof  of  its 
utility,  and  of  its  conformity  to  human  nature,  than  that  its  influ- 
ence is  most  powerfully  felt  over  the  most  enlightened  and  free 
nation  on  the  earth."  He  further  testifies,  that  "in  America  all 
those  vices  which  tend  to  impair  the  purity  of  morals,  and  to  de- 
stroy the  conjugal  tie,  are  treated  with  a  degree  of  severity  un- 
known in  the  rest  of  the  world." 

Let  us  descend  to  particulars.  Among  professing  Christians 
there  are  doubtless  not  a  few  whose  conduct  proves  the  insincerity 
of  their  professed  attachment  to  Christianity.  Yet  no  candid  man 
will  deny,  that  in  communities  where  rehgion  flourishes,  the  tone 
of  moral  feeling  is  far  higher  than  in  those  where  it  is  compara- 
tively unknown ;  nor  can  it  be  denied,  that  in  Christian  churches 


580  THE   MORAL   EFFECTS  OF  CHRISTIANITY. 

a  much  higher  standard  of  morals  is  maintained  than  in  the 
world.  How  rare  a  thing  is  it  to  find  a  member  of  a  Christian 
church  in  a  jail  or  a  penitentiary.  And  who,  let  me  ask,  are  the 
firmest  and  most  zealous  opposers  of  immorality  in  all  its  forms? 
Are  they  infidels  or  Christians? 

In  works  of  benevolence  what  class  are  found  most  active? 
Hospitals  for  the  insane  and  afflicted,  asylums  for  orphans  and 
widows,  for  the  mute  and  the  blind — are  they  not  confined  to 
Christian  countries?  And  by  whom  are  plans  devised,  and  labors 
costly  and  often  perilous  performed,  to  civilize  and  moralize  the 
degraded  pagan  nations? 

But  it  is  unnecessary,  I  am  persuaded,  to  protract  the  discussion 
of  this  point.  The  moral  code  of  Christianity,  it  must  be  acknowl- 
edged, is  perfect.  It  purifies  the  hearts  of  individuals,  and  con- 
trols their  conduct.  It  prompts  and  encourages  them  to  deeds  of 
virtue  and  benevolence.  It  approaches  the  human  heart  by  every 
avenue,  and  presents  every  possible  motive  to  holiness  and  good- 
ness. It  extends  its  hallowed  influence  over  the  domestic  circle, 
and  wisely  prescribes  the  duties  growing  out  of  every  relation  in 
life.  In  its  progress  through  the  world,  the  wilderness  and  the 
solitary  place  are  made  glad ;  and  the  deserts  rejoice  and  blossom 
as  the  rose.  The  mountains  and  the  hills  break  forth  into  sing- 
ing, and  all  the  trees  of  the  field  clap  their  hands.  lis  effects  are 
wholly  good  ;  and  therefore  it  is  wholly  true. 

Second.  I  propose  now  to  consider  very  briefly  the  effects  of 
Christianity  upon  education,  general  intelligence,  and  the  progress 
of  science.  Every  system  of  religion  has  to  do  with  God,  his 
perfections  and  his  works  ;  with  man,  his  nature,  character,  duty 
and  destiny.  Education  and  science  travel  over  a  large  por- 
tion of  the  same  territory.  Consequently  every  false  system  of 
religion  loses  public  confidence  just  as  science  progresses.  The 
reason  is  obvious.  Such  systems  inevitably  teach  concerning  God 
and  his  works,  man  and  his  nature,  false  doctrines ;  and  science 
detects  and  exposes  their  errors.  Paganism,  in  all  its  forms,  has 
uniformly  sunk  into  contempt,  as  science  has  successfully  carried 
forward  its  investigations.  The  hoary  superstitions  of  India,  which 
have  fettered  and  degraded  the  minds  of  many  generations,  are 
now  melting  away  before  its  light.  "  One  look  through  the  tele- 
scope," says  a  late  elegant  writer,  "dispels  all  the  illusions  of  the 
Brahminical  faith,  and  blots  out  of  existence  as  many  myriads  of 


THE    MORAL   EFFECTS   OF   CHRISTIANITY.  681 

gods,  as  it  brings  into  view  myriads  of  stars  reflecting  the  glory 
of  tlie  one  living  and  true  God." 

Christianity,  in  its  relations  to  the  progress  of  human  learning, 
Btands  in  most  striking  contrast  with  all  other  systems  of  religion. 
It  has  maintained  its  undiminished  authority  over  the  most  en- 
lightened nations.  It  has  numbered  among  its  humble  and  de- 
vout disciples  many  of  the  brightest  ornaments  of  science.  It  is 
sufficient  to  name  Luther,  Calvin,  Melancthon,  Bacon,  Newton, 
Locke,  Grotius,  Boyle,  Hale,  Selden,  Addison,  Bonnet,  Beattie, 
Edwards,  Witherspoon,  Chalmers,  Siliman,  Miller,  Neander,  Tho- 
luck.     The  list  might  easily  be  increased  indefinitely. 

Almost  every  department  of  human  learning  has,  at  one  time 
or  another,  been  arrayed  against  Christianity.  She  has  been 
assailed  by  great  names  and  by  eminent  learning.  In  such  men 
as  Hobbes  and  Herbert,  Hume  and  Chesterfield,  Voltaire,  Volney, 
and  Rousseau,  infidelity  found  its  ablest  advocates.  Christianity 
met  its  forces  in  the  open  field  of  free  discussion,  and  smote  them 
with  the  sword  of  Truth.  Nay,  more — she  has  laid  under  contri- 
bution the  very  sciences,  that  were  triumphantly  arrayed  against 
her;  and  she  has  sent  them  forth  to  furnish  multiplied  evidences 
of  her  divine  origin  and  of  her  high  mission  to  earth.  She  has 
not  only  maintained  her  authority  over  the  most  enlightened  na- 
tions and  individuals,  but  she  has  taken  science  by  the  hand,  and 
led  it  forth  in  the  path  of  successful  investigation.  Who  are  the 
presidents  and  the  professors  in  the  best  colleges  and  universities 
in  Europe  and  America.  They  are  Christians.  Do  you  ask 
further  evidence,  that  Christianity  is  the  patron  of  science  ? — and 
that  without  her  aid  it  has  made  almost  no  progress?  You  will 
find  such  evidence  in  the  following  considerations : 

1.  Christianity  favors  general  intelligence  and  the  progress  of 
human  learning,  by  elevating  the  moral  characters  of  men.  De- 
pravity induces  them  to  seek  happiness  in  the  gratification  of  the 
animal  appetites  or  of  a  degrading  ambition.  Its  language  is — 
"  Let  us  eat  and  drink  ;  for  to-morrow  we  die."  Or  it  arms  indi- 
viduals and  nations  against  each  other  to  gratify  a  miserable  ava- 
rice or  an  unhallowed  ambition.  But  when  they  embrace  the 
pure  morality  of  the  gospel,  and  begin  to  cherish  its  exalted  hopes, 
they  no  longer  find  enjoyment  in  indulgences  and  pursuits  so 
degrading.  They  desire  purer  pleasures  and  more  rational  enjoy- 
ments ;  and  they  find  them  in  the  study  of  the  perfections  and  the 
works  of  God  whom  they  adore,  and  in  devising  means  to  improve 


582  THE   MORAL  EFFECTS  OF  CHRISTIANITY. 

the  condition  of  theiu  fellow-men.  The  1.  uman  mind  is  by  nature 
active  and  inquisitive ;  but  depravity  of  heart  employs  its  noble 
powers  in  the  pursuit  of  trifles.  The  heart  gives  direction  to  the 
intellect ;  when  the  former  is  purified,  the  latter  looks  up. 

There  are  apparent  exceptions  to  this  rule.  The  ancient  phi- 
losophers of  Greece  and  Rome  speculated  profoundly  or  obscurely 
concerning  the  origin  of  all  things,  and  concerning  the  nature  and 
the  destiny  of  man  ;  but  their  philosophy  was  fundamentally  false 
and  demoralizing,  and  their  noble  powers  systematically  misdi- 
rected. The  ancient  poets  wrote  beautifully,  often  sublimely;  but 
what  an  unseemly  mixture  they  exhibit  of  the  pure  and  impure, 
the  sublime  and  the  trifling.  They  wrote,  not  to  reform  but  to 
please  men  ;  and  therefore  they  ministered  to  their  ruling  passions. 
Even  religion  was  invoked  to  patronize  war,  and  drunkenness 
and  debauchery ;  and  the  gods  mingled  with  delight  in  scenes  of 
grossest  corruption  and  the  greatest  cruelty. 

2.  Christianity  awakens  in  the  mind  a  strong  desire  to  know 
all  that  may  be  known  of  the  laws  of  nature  and  the  works  of  God ; 
for  the  works  of  God  exhibit  and  illustrate  his  perfections.  Can 
he  who  loves  and  worships  God,  be  indiflferent  to  any  of  the  works 
of  his  hands?  Such,  indeed,  has  been  the  effect  of  the  religion  of 
the  Bible  in  every  age. 

The  fame  of  Solomon,  as  an  eminent  naturalist,  attracted  to 
Jerusalem  multitudes  from  the  surrounding  nations.  "And  he 
spake  of  trees,  from  the  cedar-tree  that  is  in  Lebanon,  even  unto 
the  hyssop  that  springeth  out  of  the  wall :  he  spake  also  of  beasts, 
and  of  fowl,  and  of  creeping  things,  and  of  fishes.  And  there  came 
of  all  people  to  hear  the  wisdom  of  Solomon,  from  all  kings  of  the 
earth,  which  had  heard  of  his  wisdom."  Job,  and  David,  and 
Isaiah  were  accustomed  to  contemplate  with  delight  the  heavenly 
bodies,  and  to  admire. the  wisdom,  the  goodness,  and  the  power  of 
God  in  all  his  works.  Job  adored  the  majesty  of  the  Creator, 
"  who  alone  spreadeth  out  the  heavens,  and  treadeth  upon  the  waves 
of  the  sea :  who  maketh  Arcturus,  Orion,  and  Pleiades,  and  the 
chambers  of  the  South."  "  Where,"  says  Bacon,  "  he  takes  knowl- 
edge of  the  depression  of  the  southern  pole,. calling  it  the  secrets  of 
the  south,  because  the  southern  stars  were  in  that  climate  unseen." 
David  sunk  into  insignificance  in  his  own  estimation,  whilst 
he  contemplated  the  greatness  of  God  in  the  heavenly  bodies. 
"  When  1  consider  thy  heavens,  the  work  of  thy  fingers,  the  moon 
and  the  stars  which  thou  hast  ordained ;   what  is  man  that  thou 


THE   MORAL   EFFECTS   OF  CHRISTIANITY.  583 

art  mindful  of  him,  or  tlie  son  of  man  that  thou  visitest  him?" 
And  as  he  looked  out  upon  the  heavens,  and  contemplated  all  the 
works  of  the  Most  High,  he  seemed  to  himself  to  hear  them  all 
proclaiming  the  perfections  of  their  Creator.  "  The  heavens  de- 
clare the  glory  of  God ;  and  the  firmament  showeth  his  handy- 
work.  Day  unto  day  uttereth  speech,  and  night  unto  night  show- 
eth knowledge.  There  is  no  speech  nor  language  where  their 
voice  is  not  heard.  Their  line  is  gone  out  through  all  the  earth, 
and  their  words  to  the  end  of  the  world."  When  Isaiah,  the  elo- 
quent prophet,  would  comfort  the  pious  in  their  affliction,  and  en- 
courage them  to  trust  in  the  mighty  God,  he  exclaimed—"  Lift 
up  your  eyes  on  high,  and  behold,  who  hath  created  these  things, 
that  bringeth  out  their  host  by  number :  he  calleth  them  all  by 
name,  by  the  greatness  of  his  might,  for  that  he  is  strong  in  power; 
not  one  faileth."  These  men  contemplated  the  heavens,  not  with 
the  superstitious  veneration  of  the  heathen,  who  saw  in  the  heav- 
enly bodies  the  deities  who  protected  and  blessed  them,  or  who 
read  in  their  motions  the  destiny  of  men  ;  nor  yet  with  the  feeling 
of  the  irreligious  astronomer,  who  inquires  into  the  laws  by  which 
they  are  controled,  and  admires  the  wonderful  machinery  without 
beholding  and  adoring  the  power,  the  wisdom,  and  the  goodness 
of  the  mighty  Architect. 

"  The  undevout  astronomer  is  mad." 

In  nature's  works  they  saw  the  glory  of  nature's  God.  They 
studied  the  works  of  God,  the  God  of  nature  and  of  revelation, 
that  they  might  acquaint  themselves  with  him,  and  adore  his  per- 
fections, illustrated  by  his  works.  Their  piety  awakened  a  strong 
desire  to  know  all  that  could  be  known  of  creation  and  its  laws. 
Indeed,  the  inspired  writers  declared  knowledge  preferable  to  silver 
and  gold,  and  to  all  other  possessions,  and  earnestly  exhorted  all 
to  seek  it.  '•  Happy  is  the  man,"  says  Solomon,  "  that  findeth 
wisdom,  and  the  man  that  getteth  understanding.  For  the  mer- 
chandise of  it  is  better  than  the  merchandise  of  silver,  and  the 
gain  thereof  than  fine  gold.  She  is  more  precious  than  rubies ; 
and  all  the  things  thou  canst  desire  are  not  to  be  compared  unto 
her.  Length  of  days  is  in  her  right  hand  ;  and  in  her  left  hand 
riches  and  honor.  Her  ways  are  ways  of  pleasantness,  and  all 
her  paths  are  peace.  She  is  a  tree  of  life  to  them  that  lay  hold 
upon  her ;  and  happy  is  every  one  that  retaineth  her." 

3.  Christianity  not  oily  awakens  the  desire  for  knowledge,  but 


584  THE   MORAL   EFFP^CTS   OF   CHRISTIANITY. 

it  teaches  a  large  amount  of  that  which  is  most  important,  and 
gives  the  clue  to  further  progress. 

1st,  It  teaches  the  existence  and  the  perfections  of  God,  and 
that  all  things  were  created  by  him.  I  n^ed  not  refer  you  to  par- 
ticular portions  of  the  Scriptures  to  prove,  that  they  teach  the  eter- 
nal, underived  existence  of  the  one  true  God,  a  pure  Spirit,  pos- 
sessed of  infinite  perfections,  natural  and  moral.  Nor  need  I  do 
more  than  quote  the  first  verse  in  the  Bible  to  prove  that  he  is  the 
Creator  of  all  things.  "  In  the  beginning  God  created  the  heavens 
and  the  earth."  Precisely  here  the  minds  of  the  most  eminent 
philosophers  labored.  Gibbon  says,  "Of  the  four  most  celebrated 
schools,  the  Stoics  and  Platonists  have  left  us  the  most  sublime 
proofs  of  the  existence  and  perfections  of  the  First  Cause  ;  but  as 
it  was  impossible  for  them  to  conceive  the  creation  of  matter,  the 
workman  in  the  Stoic  philosophy  was  not  sufiicienlly  distinguished 
from  the  work ;  while,  on  the  contrary,  the  spiritual  god  of  Plato 
and  his  disciples  resembled  an  idea,  rather  than  a  substance.  The 
opinions  of  the  Academics  and  Epicureans  were  of  a  less  religious 
cast ;  but  while  the  modest  science  of  the  former  induced  them  to 
doubt,  the  positive  ignorance  of  the  latter  urged  them  to  deny,  the 
providence  of  a  Supreme  Ruler."*  All  the  ancient  philosophers, 
without  exception,  adopted  as  an  axiom — De  nihilo  nihil,  in  ni- 
kilum,  nil  posse  reverti.  That  is,  that  creation  and  annihilation 
are  alike  impossible.  This  fundamental  error  was  fatal  to  all 
progress  in  philosophical  investigation,  and,  as  we  shall  presently 
see,  exerted  a  most  unhappy  influence  on  morals  and  religion. 

2d.  The  Scriptures  teach,  that  man  has  an  immaterial,  incor- 
ruptible, immortal  mind,  as  well  as  a  material-  body.  On  this 
most  important  subject  there  is  no  obscurity  in  their  language. 
It  brings  "  life  and  immortality  to  light."  Here  again  the  wisdom 
of  philosophers  failed  them.  "  The  writings  of  Cicero,"  says 
Gibbon,  "  represent  in  the  most  lively  colors  the  ignorance,  the 
errors  and  the  uncertainty  of  the  ancient  philosophers  with  regard 
to  the  immortality  of  the  soul.  When  they  are  desirous  of  arm- 
ing their  disciples  against  the  fear  of  death,  they  inculcate,  as  an 
obvious,  though  juelancholy  position,  that  the  fatal  stroke  of  our 
dissolution  releases  us  from  the  calamities  of  life,  and  that  those 
can  no  longer  suffer  who  no  longer  exist."  Those  of  them  who 
believed  in  the  soul's  immortality,  denying  the  possibility  of  crea- 
tion, held  the  doctrine  of  its  eternal  pre-existence.     "  The  ancient 

*  VoL  i.  p.  19. 


THE   MORAL   EFFECTS   OF   CHRISTIANITY.  585 

Atomists,"  says  the  learned  Cudwoith,  "  concluded,  that  souls 
and  lives,  being  substantial  entities  by  themselves,  were  all  of 
them  as  old  as  any  other  substance  in  the  universe,  and  as  the 
whole  mass  of  matter,  and  every  smallest  atom  of  it  is  :  that  is, 
they  who  maintained  the  eternity  of  the  world,  did  consequently 
assert  also  eternitatem  miimorum, — the  eternity  of  souls." 

It  was  on  this  ground  that  Plato  and  his  disciples  defended  the 
immortality  of  the  soul.  It  was  not  generated,  said  they  ;  there- 
fore it  cannot  he  corrupted.  It  always  Aas  lived;  therefore  it 
always  will  live.  Intimately  connected  with  this  opinion,  and 
growing  out  of  it,  was  the  doctrine  oi  the  trajismigration  of  souls. 
Plato  said — that  some  of  the  ancient  philosophers  were  not  with- 
out suspicion,  that  what  is  now  called  death,  is  to  men  more 
properly  a  nativity  or  birth  into  life,  and  what  is  called  a  genera- 
lion  into  life,  was  rather  to  be  considered  a  sinking  into  death ; 
the  former  (death)  being  the  soul's  ascent  out  of  the  gross  terres- 
trial bodies  to  a  body  jnore  thin  and  subtile  ;  and  the  latter  (birth) 
its  descent  from  a  purer  body  to  one  more  gross  and  terrestrial. 

These  fundamental  errors  involved  the  philosophers  in  inextri- 
cable difficulties  in  all  their  inquiries,  and  effectually  prevented 
any  real  progress  in  natural  and  mental  philosophy. 

3d.  The  Scriptures  teach  moral  science  perfectly.  The  leading 
faculties  of  the  mind,  the  intellect,  the  affections,  the  conscience 
and  the  will,  are  distinctly  recognized.  Man's  free  agency  and 
accountability  are  taught  with  entire  clearness.  And,  as  we  have 
already  seen,  their  moral  code  is  perfect.  All  standard  writers  on 
moral  science  acknowledge  themselves  indebted  to  the  Scriptures 
for  the  principles  they  advance.  Indeed,  I  know  not  a  respectable 
writer  on  this  most  important  science,  who  is  not  a  firm  believer 
in  the  inspiration  of  the  Scriptures.  :• 

I  will  not  now  detain  you  to  speak  of  the  Bible  as  a  history  of  the 
human  race  for  many  centuries,  and  as  exhibiting  the  great  prin- 
ciples of  civil  government;  nor  will  I  attempt  to  prove  what  I  may 
safely  affirm — ^that  it  presents  many  of  the  finest  specimens  of 
beautiful  and  sublime  prose  and  poetic  composition,  and  of  clear, 
conclusive  reasoning,  that  can  be  found  in  the  world.  Some  of 
these  points  may  be  very  briefly  noticed  before  I  close. 

The  precise  truth  which  I  desire  now  to  impress  upon  your 
minds,  is — that  the  Scriptures  teach  a  large  amount  of  most  im- 
portant truth,  and  that  they  give  the  true  clue  to  all  philosophical 
investigations. 


586  THE   MORAL   EFFECTS  OF   CHRISTIANITY. 

4.  Before  proceeding  to  illustrate  this  truth  from  history,  let  me 
further  state,  that  Christianity  favors  the  progress  of  knowledge, 
by  occupying  the  mind  with  themes  adapted  to  develop  and  in- 
vigorate the  intellectual,  diS  well  as  the  moral  pc.vers.  If  the 
study  of  mathematics  strengthens  the  intellect,  it  still  more  ex- 
pands and  invigorates  its  power,  when  applied  to  the  study  of 
astronomy.  For  then  the  mind,  whilst  making  careful  calcula- 
tions, contemplates  objects  vast,  sublime,  and  magnificent.  But 
if  the  heavens  be  a  sublime  and  glorious  subject  of  inquiry  and 
contemplation,  how  much  more  the  infinite  perfections  of  the 
great  Creator  of  all.  If  the  study  of  mechanical  philosophy, 
chemistry,  anatomy,  and  of  all  the  laws  of  nature,  be  adapted  to 
invigorate  the  powers  of  the  mind,  how  much  more  eflTectually 
does  it  accomplish  this  object,  when  the  mind  ascends  from  these 
finite  objects  to  the  great  Infinite;  when  in  the  works  and  law^s 
of  creation  it  beholds  and  admires  the  perfections  of  the  Creator. 
If  the  study  of  things  temporal,  and  the  continued  effort  to  gain 
and  enjoy  them,  may  develop  the  mental  powers  ;  how  much 
more  the  habitual  contemplation  of  things  eternal.  AVhat  are 
the  beauties  and  sublimities  of  earth,  to  the  glories  of  heaven? 
The  loftiest  aspirations  of  the  man  of  ambition,  dwindle  into 
insignificance,  when  compared  with  the  cherished  hopes  of  the 
humblest  Christian.  The  objects  of  the  Christian's  pleasing 
thought  are  as  vast  as  they  are  pure  and  lovely.  The  contem- 
plation of  them,  therefore,  tends  directly  and  powerfully  to  develop 
the  intellectual  powers  as  well  as  to  purify  the  heart. 

Turning  from  the  direct  contemplation  of  the  principles  of 
Christianity,  as  they  are  stated  in  the  Scriptures,  let  us  hear  the 
testimony  of  uninspired  history.  The  Reformation  of  the  six- 
teenth century  was  emphatically  a  Bible  reformation.  Its  funda- 
mental doctrine  was,  that  the  Scriptures  contain  the  whole  revela- 
tion of  God  for  the  instruction  of  men  in  faith  and  in  conduct. 
With  only  the  Bible  in  their  hands,  the  reformers  sought  to  deliver 
the  church  from  the  overwhelming  mass  of  error  and  corruption 
under  which  it  was  crushed.  Taking  our  position,  then,  by  the 
side  of  the  reformers,  and  looking  backward  and  forward,  we  may 
be  able  to  form  a  correct  estimate  of  the  effect  of  Scriptural  Chris- 
tianity upon  the  progress  of  knowledge.  Let  us,  first,  inquire 
what  was  the  state  of  the  world  with  regard  to  knowledge  and 
science  at  the  commencement  of  the  Reformation. 

In  the  third  century  Origen,  the  most  learned  of  the  Greek 


THE   MORAL   EFFECTS   OF   CHRISTIANITY.  587 

fathers,  became  an  ardent  admirer  of  the  Platonic  philosophy ; 
and  believing,  as  not  a  few  in  our  day,  that  revelation  could  not 
contradict  science,  he  sought  so  to  interpret  the  Scriptures,  as  to 
bring  them  into  harmony  with  the  principles  of  this  sublime  phi- 
losophy. Not  a  few  of  the  Christian  ministry  united  with  him 
in  this  effort.  "This  great  man,"  says  Mosheim,  "enchanted  by 
the  charms  of  the  Platonic  philosophy,  set  it  up  as  the  test  of  all 
religion  ;  and  imagined,  that  the  reasons  of  each  doctrine  were 
to  be  found  in  that  favorite  philosophy,  and  their  nature  and  ex- 
tent to  be  determined  by  it."  And  since  it  was  impossible  to 
reconcile  the  literal  and  obvious  meaning  of  the  Scriptures  with 
the  principles  of  the  Platonic  philosophy,  it  became  necessary  to 
find  in  their  language  a  mysterious  or  hidden  sense.  Having 
determined  the  existence  of  this  hidden  sense,  Origen  divided  it 
into  the  moral  ^nA  mystical ;  and  the  mystical  sense  he  sub- 
divided into  the  superior  or  heavenly  and  the  inferior.  If,  then, 
the  literal  meaning  of  the  Scriptures  could  not  be  made  to 
harmonize  with  the  doctrines  of  Plato,  there  could  be  no  great 
difficulty  in  producing  harmony  by  resorting  to  the  hidden  sense, 
in  some  of  its  divisions  and  subdivisions.  And  as  this  pagan 
philosophy  had  taught  Christian  men,  that  the  Scriptures  have  a 
hidden  sense  of  far  greater  value  than  the  literal ;  it  also  taught 
them  how  that  sense  might  be  discovered.  The  divine  nature,  it 
taught,  is  diffused  through  all  human  souls  ;  or  the  faculty  of 
reason  is  an  emanation  from  God,  and  comprehends  in  it  the 
principles  of  all  truth.  This  celestial  flame  was  to  be  kindled, 
not  by  study  and  investigation,  but  by  silence,  solitude,  medita- 
tion, and  penances  by  which  the  body  might  be  emaciated. 
Thus  were  the  simple,  sublime  truths  of  the  Bible  excluded  from 
the  minds  of  men,  and  their  excited  imaginations  became  their 
only  guide  in  their  search  after  truth. 

Now  for  the  practical  effects  of  this  philosophy. 

1.  As  it  denied  the  possibility  o{  creation,  and  held  to  the  eter- 
nity of  matter ;  it  accounted  for  the  existence  of  moral  evil  by 
tracing  it  to  the  connection  of  the  pure  spirit  with  matter.  In 
this  there  was  no  impiety,  since  it  was  believed  that  matter  was 

-not  the  product  of  Omnipotence. 

2.  If  moral  evil  proceeded  from  matter,  and  the  mind  had  be- 
come contaminated  by  its  contact  with  a  material  body  ;  it  fol- 
lowed, that  the  way  to  attain  to  moral  perfection  was  to  destroy, 
as  far  as  possible,  the  influence  of  the  body  over  the  mind.     To 


688  THE   MORAL   EFFECTS   OF  CHRISTIANITY. 

improve  the  physical  condition  of  men,  therefore,  and  to  add  to 
the  comforts  of  Hfe,  was  not  only  no  part  of  the  office  of  that 
philosophy,  but  was  utterly  discountenanced  by  it.  "  The  ancient 
philosophy,"  says  an  able  writer,  *' disdained  to  be  useful. — It 
could  not  condescend  to  the  humble  office  of  ministering  to  the 
comfort  of  human  beings.  All  the  schools  regarded  that  office  as 
degrading  ;  some  censured  it  as  immoral."  Seneca  thought  phi- 
losophy degraded  by  being  applied  to  useful  inventions.  Those 
philosophers  were  right  in  this  view,  on  the  supposition  that  their 
first  principles  were  true.  For  to  multipl}'^  physical  comforts,  was 
but  *.o  pamper  the  body  which  was  the  source  of  impurity,  and 
thus  to  fetter  the  soul  in  its  aspirations  after  moral  perfection. 
The  true  method  of  improving  the  condition  of  men  was  to 
emaciate  the  body  by  fasting  and  severe  discipline ;  and  he  was 
the  best  practical  philosopher  who  came  nearest  committing  ' 
suicide  by  a  lingering  process. 

The  fruits  of  this  false  philosophy  ripened  fast  under  the  genial 
warmth  of  Christianity.  Philosophers  speculated  concerniYig' 
moral  perfection,  and  pointed  out  the  wa}'-  to  attain  it;  but  their  ' 
speculations  had  no  power  to  inspire  men  with  the  ardent  desire,  ■ 
and  to  excite  them  to  tlie  pursuit  oT  it.  Such  a  desire  Chris- 
tianity awakened;  and  it  was  not  lacking  in  motives.  Chris- 
tianity awakened  the  desire  of  perfection  ;  but  most  unfortunately 
Christians  went  to  philosophers,  rather  than  to  the  Scriptures,  to 
learn  how  to  gain  the  desired  blessing.  In  Egypt,  therefore, 
where  the  unnatural  union  between  Christianity  and  false  phi- 
losophy was  first  effected,  many,  in  the  third  and  following  cen- 
turies, retired  into  caves  and  deserts,  where  they  macerated  their 
bodies  with  hunger  and  thirst,  and  submitted  to  all  the  miseries 
of  the  severest  discipline  that  a  gloomy  imagination  could  present. 
"And  it  is  not  improbable,"  says  Mosheim,  "that  Paul,  the  first 
hermit,  was  rather  engaged  by  this  fanatical  system,  than  by  the 
persecution  under  Decius,  to  fly  into  the  most  solitary  deserts  of 
Thebais,  where  he  led,  during  the  space  of  ninety  years,  a  life 
more  worthy  of  a  savage  animal  than  of  a  rational  being." 

This  philosophical  superstition  had  a  most  remarkable  develop- 
ment, in  the  fifth  century,  in  the  stylites  or  pillar  saints — sancti 
columnares — who  stood  motionless  upon  the  tops  of  pillars  for 
years  together.  The  most  celebrated  of  these  was  Simeon,  a 
Syrian,  who  spent  thirty-seven  years  of  his  life  upon  five  pillars 
of  six,  twelve,  twenty-two,  thirty-six,  and  forty  cubits  high.     These 


THE   MORAL   EFFECTS  OF  CHRISTIANITY.  589 

eminent  saints,  as  they  were  considered,  spent  their  time  in  fast- 
ings, penances,  and  prayers,  and  excited  the  wonder  and  admira- 
tion of  the  superstitious  multitude  by  their  worthless  virtues. 

If  inteUigent  infidels  laugh  at  this  miserable  superstition,  let 
Plato  and  the  old  philosophers  have  the  credit  of  it.  For  Paul 
the  hermit  and  Simeon  the  stylite  were  but  reducing  to  practice 
the  principles  of  their  philosophy ;  and  admitting  the  truth  of 
that  philosophy,  we  must  greatly  admire,  instead  of  ridiculing, 
their  course  of  life.  Withdrawn  from  worldly  pursuits,  they  de- 
stroyed their  bodily  appetites  by  severe  penances,  and  raised  their 
souls  toward  God  by  devout  meditations  and  prayers.  In  such 
men  you  see  the  ancient  philosophy  reduced  to  practice. 

But  during  this  period,  Aristotle  divided  with  Plato  the  empire 
of  mind,  and  in  the  ages  immediately  preceding  the  Reformation 
had  almost  expelled  him  from  the  schools.  The  philosophy  of 
Aristotle  did  not  differ  essentially  from  that  of  Plato  ;  but  he  wa& 
the  author  of  a  system  of  dialectics  which,  together  with  the  fun- 
damental errors  of  the  system,  rendered  the  discovery  of  truth 
still  more  difficult.  By  the  aid  of  his  logic  the  schoolmen  shar- 
pened their  intellects  by  the  discussion  of  questions  the  most 
trivial. 

The  ancient  philosophy  was  characterized  by  perfect  sterility. 
False  in  its  first  principles,  it  could  make  no  progress.  "The  an- 
cient philosophy,"  says  Macaulay,  "was  a  treadmill,  not  a  path. 
It  was  made  up  of  revolving  questions — of  controversies  which 
were  always  beginning  again.  It  was  a  contrivance  for  having 
much  exertion,  and  no  progress."  The  reason  is  obvious.  Hold- 
ing to  the  eternity  of  matter  and  of  mind,  the  ancient  philosophers 
very  naturally  regarded  the  question,  how  things  came  to  be  as 
they  are,  as  the  first  great  question  to  be  solved  by  philosophy. 
Consequently,  their  gigantic  intellects  were  employed  in  endless 
theories  and  conjectures,  which  could  never  be  more  than  mere 
theories  and  conjectures.  He  who  will  examine  the  fundamental 
principles  of  that  philosophy,  will  no  longer  wonder  that,  as  Lord 
Bacon  says,  "from  the  systems  of  the  Greeks  and  their  subordi- 
nate divisions  in  particular  branches  of  the  sciences  during  so  long 
a  period,  scarcely  one  single  experiment  can  be  culled  that  has  a 
tendency  to  elevate  or  assist  mankind,  and  can  be  fairly  set  down 
to  the  speculations  and  doctrines  of  their  philosophy."  Nor  will 
he  censure  the  declaration  of  Macaulay  as  too  strong,  that  "  words 
and  mere  words,  and  nothing  but  words,  had  been  all  the  fruit 


590  THE   MORAL  EFFECTS  OF  CHRISTIANITY. 

of  all  the  toil  of  ail  the  most  renowned  sages  of  sixty  genera- 
tions." 

This  sterile  philosophy  which,  incorporated  with  Christianity, 
withered  all  its  lovely  virtues,  had  received  the  sanction  of  coun- 
cils and  popes,  and,  therefore,  bore  the  stamp  of  infallibility. 
"  Driven  from  its  ancient  haunts,  it  had  taken  sanctuary  in  that 
church  which  it  had  persecuted ;  and  had,  like  the  daring  fiends 
of  the  poet,  placed  its  seat 

'  Next  the  seat  of  God 
And  with  its  darkness  dared  aflfront  his  light'  "  * 

The  wondrous  virtues  which  it  had  produced  in  deserts  and 
caves,  had  excited  almost  universal  admiration  ;  and  the  men 
whom  it  had  driven  mad,  had  been  solemnly  canonized.  To  as- 
sail it,  therefore,  was  to  assail  Christianity  which  it  had  corrupted ; 
and  he  who  had  the  rashness  to  make  the  assault,  expected  the 
anathemas  of  the  church,  and  the  tortures  of  the  inquisition. 

Such  was  the  state  of  things  when  the  Reformation  aroused 
the  world  from  'deep  slumber.  I  have  said  it  was  emphatically 
the  work  of  the  Scriptures.  It  rejected  at  once  the  infallibility  of 
the  Church  and  her  multiplied  traditions.  It  held  up  the  Bible 
as  the  only  unerring  guide  in  faith  and  morals.  It  translated  the 
sacred  volume  into  the  vulgar  tongue,  and  put  it  in  the  hands  of 
the  people,  and  bade  them  read  and  understand.  The  reformers 
saw  at  once  the  falsity  of  the  old  philosophy  which  then  reigned 
in  the  church  and  the  university,  under  the  authority  of  Aristotle  ; 
and  they  attacked  it  boldly.  "The  first,  adversaries  Luther  at- 
tacked," says  D'Aubigne,  "  were  those  celebrated  schoolmen  whom 
he  had  studied  so  deeply,  and  who  then  reigned  supreme  in  every 
university.  He  accused  them  of  Pelagianism ;  boldly  opposing 
Aristotle  (the  father  of  the  school)  and  Thomas  Aquinas,  he  un- 
dertook to  hurl  them  from  the  throne  whence  they  exercised  so 
commanding  an  influence,  the  one  over  philosophy,  and  the  other 
over  theology."  "I  desire  nothing  more  ardently,"  said  Luther, 
"  than  to  lay  open  before  all  eyes  this  false  system,  which  has 
tricked  the  church,  by  covering  itself  with  a  Greek  mask,  and  to 
expose  its  worthlessness  before  the  world."  One  year  later  he 
wrote  exultingly — "God  works  among  us;  our  theology  and  St. 
Augustine  make  wonderful  progress,  and  are  already  paramount 
in  our  un'versity.     Aristotle  is  on  the  wane,  and  already  totters  to 

*  Macaulay. 


THE   MOEAL   EFFECTS   OF   CHRISTIANITY.  591 

his  fall,  which  is  near  at  hand  and  ineveisible."  The  other  re- 
formers agreed  with  Luther.  Zwingle,  Bucer,  Peter  Martyr  and 
Calvin  had  denounced  the  old  philosophy  as  boldly  as  he. 

This  attack  was  successful.  Wherever  the  doctrines  of  the 
Reformation  were  received,  Plato  and  Aristotle  were  overthrown, 
and  overthrown  simply  by  the  Scriptures.  "Thus  before  the 
birth  of  Bacon,"  says  Macaulay,  "  the  empire  of  scholastic  philos- 
ophy had  been  shaken  to  its  foundations.  There  was  in  the  intel- 
lectual world  an  anarchy  resembling  that  which  in  the  political 
world  often  follows  the  overthrow  of  an  old  and  deeply-rooted  gov- 
ernment. Antiquity,  prescription,  the  sound  of  great  names,  had 
ceased  to  awe  mankind.  The  dynasty  which  had  reigned  for 
ages  was  at  an  end  ;  and  the  vacant  throne  was  left  to  be  strug- 
gled for  by  pretenders." 

The  Reformation  cleared  away  the  rubbish  of  ages,  and  pro- 
claimed freedom  of  thought.  Then  Bacon  arose.  He  com 
menced  his  career  as  a  philosopher  with  the  Bible  in  his  hand ; 
and  the  Bible  gave  him  the  first  great  truths  of  philosophy,  and 
indicated  to  him  the  limits  of  philosophical  investigation.  It 
taught  him— 

1st.  That  matter  and  finite  spirits  are  not  eternal,  but  created 
by  the  omnipotent  Jehovah. 

2d.  That  all  things  by  him  created  are  "very  good." 

Bacon  wrote  a  confession  of  faith,  drawn  from  the  Scripture?^ 
which  commences  thus  :  "I  believe  that  nothing  is  without  begin- 
ning, but  God;  no  nature,  no  matter,  no  spirit,  but  one  only,  and 
the  same  God — that  he  made  all  things  in  their  first  estate  good 
— that  God  created  spirits,  whereof  some  kept  their  standing,  and 
others  fell :  he  created  heaven  and  earth,  and  all  their  armies  and 
generations ;  and  gave  unto  them  constant  and  everlasting  laws, 
which  we  call  nature  ;  which  is  nothing  but  the  laws  of  creation," 
(fee.  These  truths  admitted,  what  is  the  proper  range  of  philosophic 
investigation  ;  and  what  the  object  it  should  seek  to  accomplish? 
We  answer : 

1.  If  God  created  all  things,  animate  and  inanimate,  material 
and  spiritual,  philosophy  has  simply  to  ascertain  what  he  did  create, 
and  what  laws  he  established.  Creation  is  an  infinite  miracle,  not 
to  be  explained  or  comprehended.  How  completely  this  simple 
truth  explodes  all  the  speculations  and  theories  concerning  the 
formation  of  the  world,  the  eternity  of  finite  spirits  and  the  trans- 
migration of  souls.     The  ancient  philosophy  utterly  mistook  the 


» 


592  THE   MORAL   EFFECTS  OF   CHRISTIANITY. 

legitimate  field  of  inquiry.  Unable  to  conceive  the  sublime  truth 
declared  in  the  first  verse  of  the  Bible — "In  the  beginning  God 
created  the  heavens  and  the  earth" — it  wandered  in  endless  mazes, 
as  Bacon  says,  "  fruitful  of  controversy  and  barren  of  effects." 
The  inductive  philosophy  is  the  legitimate  offspring  of  this  sub- 
lime truth.  Had  it  been  known  to  those  giant  minds,  whose 
powers  we  still  admire,  even  when  we  reject  as  most  absurd  their 
speculations,  what  progress  they  might  have  made  in  the  different 
sciences!  Had  Bacon  been  ignorant  of  it,  his  labors  would  have 
been  as  fruitless  as  theirs. 

2.  If,  as  the  Bible  teaches,  all  things  came  from  the  creative 
hand,  "  very  good ;"  then  matter  is  not  inherently  evil,  and  the 
mind  is  not  contaminated  by  contact  with  it.  Then  holiness  is 
not  to  be  attained  by  torturing  and  destroying  the  body,  nor  by 
retiring  into  caves  and  deserts.  How  completely  this  truth  anni- 
hilates the  virtues  so  much  extolled  by  the  ancient  philosophers, 
and  so  much  admired  among  professing  Christians,  misled  by  their 
false  theories. 

If  all  things  created  by  God  are  good;  then  they  are  de- 
signed for  the  benefit  of  man.  The  body  is  to  be  nourished,  as 
the  instrument  through  which  the  mind  now  acts.  The  laws  of 
nature  are  to  be  learned,  that  they  may  minister  to  the  wants  of 
men,  that  their  happiness  may  be  greater.  Then  it  is  not  degrad- 
ing to  philosophy  to  cause  it  to  minister  to  the  comfort  of  human 
beings.  On  the  contrary  this  is  precisely  its  province  and  its  glory. 
The  philosopher  is  not  to  spend  his  life  in  solitude,  in  meditation 
and  fastings,  but  must  imitate  the  example  of  the  Son  of  God, 
"  who  went  about  doing  good."  Bacon  had  in  his  mind  this  scrip- 
tural truth  when  he  made  iisef illness  the  test  of  sound  philosophy. 
"  For  which  reason,"  said  he,  "  in  the  same  manner  as  we  arp 
cautioned  by  religion  to  show  our  faith  by  our  works,  we  may  very 
properly  apply  the  principle  to  philosophy,  and  judge  of  it  by  its 
works ;  accounting  that  to  be  futile  which  is  unproductive,  and 
still  more  so,  if,  instead  of  grapes  and  olives,  it  yield  but  the  this- 
tle and  thorns  of  dispute  and  contention." 

"  Two  words,"  says  Macaulay,  "  form  the  key  of  the  Baconian 
doctrine — utility  and  progress."  For  both,  we  affirm,  Bacon  was 
indebted  to  the  Bible.  It  taught  him  that  God  created  all  things, 
and  consequently  the  work  of  philosophy  is  to  ascertain  what  he 
did  create  and  what  laws  he  established.  Thus  theories  give 
place  to  fact  and  experiment.     It  taught  him,  that  all  things  are 


THE  MORAL   EFFECTS   OF   CURISTIANITY.  598 

good,  and  therefore  the  business  of  philosophy  is  to  apply  all  to 
the  good  of  man. 

To  the  Reformation,  then,  which  was  the  work  of  the  Scrip- 
tures, we  are  indebted  for  a  sound  philosophy,  and  for  progress  in 
knowledge  and  in  all  the  sciences.  On  this  subject  I  take  pleas- 
ure in  quoting  a  jorize  essay,  presented  to  the  National  Institute 
of  France  by  Charles  Francis  Dominic  de  Villers,  on  "The  In- 
fluence of  the  Reformation  by  Luther."  Of  the  learning  and 
ability  displayed  in  this  essay,  we  need  no  other  evidence  than 
the  fact,  that  it  had  such  an  award  by  such  an  institution.  He 
says — "It  has  been  already  sufficiently  shown  above,  what  an 
imperfect  philosophy  reigned  in  the- schools  before  the  Reformation, 
and  what  an  extravagant  and  puerile  dialectic  was  amalgamated 
with  the  system  of  the  Roman  theology,  which  maintained  itself 
by  its  aid.  To  support  this  system  was,  in  fact,  for  many  centu- 
ries, the  end  of  all  philosophy  ;  the  theologians,  who  were  gener- 
ally monks,  were  the  only  philosophers — A  firm,  independent  phi- 
losophy, which  aspired  at  becoming  universal,  was,  in  this  state 
of  things,  a  monstrosity ;  consequently,  nothing  of  this  descrip- 
tion existed  before  the  Reformation.  *  *  *  A  strange  mixture 
of  disguised  propositions  of  peripatetism,  which  was  applied  in 
the  strangest  manner  to  matters  of  faith  and  controversy,  formed 
all  the  groundwork  of  the  doctrine  of  the  schools.  Subsequent 
to  the  renovation  of  letters,  some  men  of  talents,  with  the  famous 
Erasmus  at  their  head,  had  opposed  this  monkish  barbarism. 
But,  remaining  in  the  bosom  of  a  church  to  which  scholastic  di- 
vinity had  become  an  indispensable  auxiliary,  how  could  the)'- 
labor  effectually  to  destroy  this  support?  Such  an  undertaking 
could  only  be  accomplished  by  reformers  bold  enough  to  quit  this 
church,  and  to  establish  one  separate  from  it  upon  the  pure  prin- 
ciples of  the  gospel  and  of  reason.  It  was  in  this  manner  that 
the  Reformation  dethroned  the  scholastic  divinity."  And  in  this 
way,  we  may  add,  it  prepared  the  way  for  all  the  progress  whicli 
science  has  since  made. 

If  we  would  see  the  force  of  this  argument  in  favor  of  Chris- 
tianity, let  us  compare  the  progress  of  human  learning  in  pagan 
lands,  with  its  progress  in  Christian  countries.  Has  it  made  even 
the  slightest  progress  in  the  former?  Has  it  not  decidedly  retro- 
graded ?  What  pagan  nation  now  in  existence  will  bear  com- 
parison with  ancient  Greece  and  Rome?  Again,  compare  countries 
nominally  Christian  with  those  where  the  Bible  freely  circulates^ 

38 


594  THE   MORAL   EFFECTS   OF   CHRISTIANITY. 

and  Protestanlism  prevails.  Villers  said,  there  was  more  real 
knowledge  in  one  single  Protestant  university,  as  that  of  Gottin- 
gen,  or  Halle,  or  Jena,  than  in  the  eight  Spanish  universities  then 
existing.  A  similar  comparison  may  be  made  of  literary  institu- 
tions in  Protestant  and  Roman  Catholic  countries  throughout  the 
world.  "In  these,"  says  Villers,  "they  teach  what  must,  with  or 
without  the  consent  of  reason,  be  believed  ;  in  the  others  they 
teach  how  a  reasonable  belief  may  be  acquired,  on  any  subject 
whatever.  Here  the  Decretals  are* given  for  infallible  oracles; 
there,  no  other  oracle  is  acknowledged  but  reason,  and  the  best 
supported  facts."  How  shall  we  account  for  the  fact,  that  science 
and  Christianity  have  gone  hand  in  hand  in  every  country,  and  that 
the  former  has  flourished  just  as  the  latter  in  its  purity  has  pre- 
vailed ;  unless  we  admit,  that  Christianity  is  the  great  patron  of 
sound  learning?  And  how  shall  we  account  for  the  fact,  that  a 
book  embracing  so  great  a  variety  of  subjects  as  the  Bible  does, 
written  by  so  many  different  men,  of  few  pretensions  to  human 
learning,  during  the  darkest  periods  of  the  history  of  our  world, 
does  so  promote  learning  and  science,  unless  we  admit,  that  it  was 
given  by  inspiration  of  God?  Is  it  credible  that  such  men,  under 
such  circumstances,  if  uninspired,  could  write  such  a  book? 

Third.  Let  us  now  consider,  with  great  brevity,  the  effect  of 
Christianity  upon  civil  and  religious  liberty.  In  every  age  and  in 
almost  every  country,  some  form  of  religion  has  been  established 
by  law.  The  consequence  has  been,  that  multitudes  have  been 
robbed  of  their  dearest  rights,  and  persecuted  even  unto  death  for 
conscience'  sake.  And  even  in  the  middle  of  the  nineteenth  cefl- 
tury  neither  the  principles  of  civil,  nor  of  religious  liberty  are  gen- 
erally understood.  Indeed  our  happy  country  is  almost  the  only 
country  in  the  world,  where  these  principles  are  well  understood 
and  respected.  We  propose  to  inquire  how  far  the  world  is  in- 
debted for  the  liberty  it  enjoys  to  the  influence  of  Christianity. 

Religious  liberty  is  the  unrestrained  exercise  of  the  right  to 
examine  all  moral  and  religious  questions,  and  to  act  in  accord- 
ance with  one's  own  convictions  of  truth,  without  interfering 
with  similar  rights  of  others.  This,  as  the  Scriptures  clearly 
leach,  is  an  inalienable  right.  This  is  evident  from  the  following 
considerations : — 

1.  True  religion,  according  to  the  Bible,  is  the  belief  and  hearty 
reception  of  revealed  truth,  and  a  corresponding  conduct.  It  is 
unnecessary  to  refer  to  particular  parts  of  the  Scriptures  to  prove, 


/>'■• 


THE   MORAL  EFFECTS  OF  CHRISTIANITY.  595 

that  such  is  the  religion  there  taught.  It  will  not  be  disputed. 
Now,  in  the  nature  of  things,  belief  can  be  produced  only  by  evi- 
dence ;  and  a  hearty  reception  of  the  truth  cannot  be  the  effect  of 
compulsion.  Civil  rewards  and  penalties  on  account  of  religious 
belief,  therefore,  make  hypocrites  of  the  unprincipled,  and  rebels 
of  the  conscientious ;  and  thus  they  corrupt  the  church  by  filling 
it  with  hypocrisy,  and  weaken  the  government  by  alienating  from 
it  men  of  principle,  who  would  be  its  firmest  supporters. 

2.  God  requires  every  one  to  examine,  and  to  believe  accord- 
ingly. "Search  the  Scriptures."  "Prove  all  things;  hold  fast 
that  which  is  good.''  Such  is  the  language  of  the  Scriptures. 
Now,  to  forbid  any  one  to  examine  freely,  and  thus  to  form  a  ra- 
tional faith,  is  to  trample  under  foot  the  authority  of  God.  He 
says  to  each  individual — "Search  the  Scriptures  ;"  who,  then,  shall 
venture  to  forbid  any  one  to  do  so  ? 

3.  Every  individual  is  accountable  to  God  for  his  own  religious 
faith  and  conduct;  and  his  eternal  interests  are  suspended  upon 
these.  To  forbid  freedom  of  investigation  and  of  worship,  there- 
fore, is  the  height  of  tyranny  and  of  cruelty.  Why  will  any  man 
or  class  of  men  step  between  me  and  my  God  in  the  formation  of 
my  faith  and  the  regulation  of  my  conduct,  when  they  cannot 
step  between  us  in  judgment?  "For  we  must  all  appear  before 
the  judgment-seat  of  Christ;  that  every  one  may  receive  the 
things  done  in  his  body,  according  to  that  he  hath  done,  whether 
it  be  good  or  bad." 

4.  Civil  government,  though  ordained  of  God,  is  designed  simply 
to  protect  men  in  the  enjoyment  of  their  rights,  and  to  promote 
their  temporal  interests.  So  Christianity  teaches.  This  truth  is 
distinctly  recognized  in  the  law  of  Moses.  "  I  charged  your  judges 
at  that  time,"  says  Moses,  "  saying,  hear  the  causes  between  your 
brethren,  and  judge  righteously  between  every  man  and  his  brother, 
and  the  stranger  that  is  with  him,"  Deut.  i.  16.  The  civil  and 
the  religious  laws  of  the  Jews  were  kept  quite  distinct.  Much 
more  should  they  be  distinct  now,  when  no  religious  qualification 
is  required  of  civil  officers.  For  civil  rulers,  then  to  legislate  con- 
cerning religious  faith  and  worship,  is  as  glaring  a  perversion  of 
their  office,  as  for  ministers  of  the  gospel  by  virtue  of  their  office, 
to  claim  authority  in  civil  matters.  It  is  true,  that  civil  govern- 
ment and  religion  are  often  concerned  about  the  same  things,  as 
blasphemy,  perjury,  murder,  theft,  &.c.  But  these  things  have 
both  a  civil  and  a  religious  aspect.     It  is  only  with  reference  to  the 


596  THE   MORAL   EFFECTS  OF   CHRISTIANITY. 

former,  that  the  civil  law  takes  cognizance  of  them.  "  Our  law," 
says  Blackstone,  "  considers  marriage  in  no  other  light  than  as  a 
civil  contract.  The  holiness  of  the  matrimonial  state  is  left  en- 
tirely to  the  ecclesiastical  law  :  the  temporal  courts  not  having 
jurisdiction  to  consider  unlawful  marriage  as  a  sin,  but  merely  as 
a  civil  inconvenience." 

The  Scriptures  not  only  inculcate  the  general  principles  of  reh- 
gious  liberty,  but  determine  the  precise  limits  of  civil  authority. 

1st.  Civil  rulers  may  not  dictate  to  the  people  their  religious 
faith  or  worship.     Such  authority  belongs  not  to  their  office. 

2d.  They  may  not  require  subjects  to  do  what  God  has  forbid- 
den, or  forbid  them  doing  what  God  has  commanded.  "  Upon  these 
two  foundations,  the  law  of  nature  and  the  law  of  revelation," 
says  Blackstone,  "depend  all  human  laws ;  that  is  to  say.  no  human 
laws  should  be  suffered  to  contradict  these.  *  *  *  If  any  human 
law  should  allow  or  enjoin  us  to  commit  murder,  we  are  bound  to 
transgress  that  human  law,  or  else  we  must  offend  both  the  natu- 
ral and  the  divine."  God  has  not  authorized  civil  magistrates 
either  to  enact  laws  binding  the  conscience,  or  to  abolish  those 
laws  by  which  he  has  bound  it.  Upon  these  plain  principles  acted 
our  Lord  and  his  Apostles.  Two  of  those  Apostles,  forbidden  by 
the  Jewish  sanhedrim  to  preach  the  gospel,  made  this  noble  an- 
swer :  "  Whether  it  be  right  in  the  sight  of  God  to  hearken  unto 
you  more  than  unto  God,  judge  ye.  For  we  cannot  but  speak  the 
things  which  we  have  seen  and  heard."  Upon  the  same  broad 
principle  Luther  took  his  stand  before  the  Diet  of  Worms.  Truly 
sublime  was  the  stand  taken  by  a  humble  monk  before  Charles  V. 
and  his  princes,  and  in  the  midst  of  a  most  excited  multitude. 
The  eyes  of  Christendom  were  fastened  upon  him  with  intensest 
interest.  He  was  commanded  to  retract  what  he  had  published. 
He  answered  in  a  firm  tone — "If  I  am  not  convinced  by  proof 
from  Holy  Scripture  or  by  cogent  reasons  :  if  I  am  not  satisfied  by 
the  very  texts  I  have  cited,  and  if  my  judgment  is  not  in  this  way 
brought  into  subjection  to  God's  word,  I  neither  can  nor  will  retract 
anything :  for  it  cannot  be  right  for  a  Christian  to  speak  against  his 
conscience.     I  stand  here,  and  can  say  no  more : — God  help  me." 

3d,  The  civil  law  must  be  obeyed  in  all  points,  within  the  proper 
limits  of  civil  jurisdiction.  "Let  every  soul  be  subject  unto  the 
higher  powers.  For  there  is  no  power  but  of  God  :  the  powers  that 
be  are  ordained  of  God.  Whosoever,  therefore,  resisteth  the  power, 
resisteth  the  ordinance  of  God."     "Put  them  in  mind,"  said  Paul 


THE   MORAL   EFFECTS   OF   CHRISTIANITY.  597 

to  Titus,  "  to  be  subject  to  principalities  and  powers,  to  obey  ma- 
gistrates, to  be  ready  to  every  good  work."  All  systems  of  human 
laws  are,  like  their  authors,  imperfect ;  and  consequently  great  in- 
justice is  often  done  in  the  administration  of  law.  But  inasmuch 
as  it  is  far  better  to  have  an  imperfect  government,  than  anarchy 
and  misrule,  the  Scriptures  require,  as  a  duty  we  owe  to  God,  to 
obey  even  imperfect  laws.  "  Wherefore  ye  must  needs  be  subject, 
not  only  for  wrath,  but  also  for  conscience'  sake." 
8ur  Civil  government,  as  the  Scriptures  teach,  is  an  ordinance  of 
God,  not  for  the  advantage  of  the  chief  ruler,  or  of  an  aristocracy, 
but  of  the  people.  To  the  virtuous,  the  civil  ruler  is  to  be  "  a 
minister  of  God  for  good,"  and  "a  revenger  to  execute  wrath 
upon  him  that  doeth  evil."  Consequently  civil  government 
should  impose  on  its  subjects,  individually  or  collectively,  no 
greater  restraint  than  the  greatest  good  of  the  whole  requires. 
Just  so  far  as  any  government  goes  beyond  this  limit  in  restrain- 
ing individual  liberty,  it  ceases  to  be  what  God  designed  it — for 
the  good  of  the  people ;  and  the  civil  officer  ceases  to  be  to  them 
"a  minister  of  God  for  good." 

Civil  government  is  an  ordinance  of  God  ;  but  since  he  has  not 
appointed  any  particular  form  of  government,  it  is  evident  that 
every  nation  has  the  right  to  choose  any  form  which  to  them 
may  seem  best  adapted  to  promote  their  interests,  and  to  modify 
that  form  as  often  as  they  may  deem  it  wise  so  to  do.  God  gave 
to  the  Jews  a  civil  government.  In  their  folly  they  grew  weary 
of  it,  and  demanded  a  king.  Samuel  was  directed  to  make  no 
opposition  to  their  wishes  beyond  warning  and  remonstrance. 
What  stronger  evidence  need  we  of  the  right  of  a  nation  to 
modify  or  change  its  form  of  government,  than  the  fact  that  the 
Jews  were  allowed  to  change  a  form  divinely  appointed? 

But  civil  office  confers  power,  which,  even  under  the  best  regu- 
lated governments,  may  be  abused.  Christianity  bids  rulers  re- 
member, that  as  they  are  God's  ministers,  they  are  accountable 
to  him  for  the  manner  in  which  they  discharge  the  duties  of  their 
office.  The  Scriptures  address  them  in  such  language  as  the 
following :  "  Be  wise  now,  therefore,  O  ye  kings :  be  instructed, 
ye  judges  of  the  earth.  Serve  the  Lord  with  fear,  and  rejoice 
with  trembling.  Kiss  the  Son  lest  he  be  angry,  and  ye  perish 
from  the  way,  when  his  wrath  is  kindled  but  a  little."  The  bold 
and  fearless  Isaiah  thus  addressed  the  Jews,  in  the  days  6f  great 
corruption  and  oppression  :  "  Thy  princes  are  rBbeUious  and.CQm- 


598  THE  MORAL  EFFECTS  OF  CHRISTIANITY. 

panions  of  thieves :  every  one  loveth  gifts,  and  followeth  after 
rewards  :  they  judge  not  the  fatherless,  neither  doth  the  cause  of 
the  widow  come  before  them.  Therefore,  saith  the  Lord,  the 
Lord  of  hosts,  the  mighty  One  of  Israel,  Ah,  I  will  ease  me  of 
mine  adversaries,  and  avenge  me  of  mine  enemies.  And  I  will 
turn  my  hand  upon  thee  and  purely  purge  away  thy  dross,  and 
take  away  all  thy  tin:  and  I  will  restore  thy  judges  as  at  the 
first,  and  thy  counsellors  as  at  the  beginning.  Afterwards  thou 
shall  be  called  the  city  of  righteousness,  the  faithful  city." 

Such  are  the  principles  of  civil  and  religious  liberty  inculcated 
in  the  sacred  Scriptures.  That  they  are  the  true  principles  of 
liberty,  will  not  be  denied.  But  where  do  we  find  them  recog- 
nized and  respected?  We  answer,  where  the  Scriptures  are 
most  revered,  and  best  understood.  These  principles  were  pro- 
claimed by  the  Reformation  of  the  sixteenth  century,  to  which 
great  event  whatever  there  is  in  the  world  of  true  liberty,  is 
traceable.  It  was,  as  we  have  said,  emphatically  a  Bible  Refor- 
mation. That  we  may  appreciate  the  influence  of  Christianity 
in  securing  freedom  to  men,  let  us,  for  a  moment,  consider  the 
state  of  things  before  the  Reformation,  when  the  Bible  was  a 
prohibited  book. 

The  doctrine  then  prevailed,  that  the  pope  and  his  bishops  had 
the  right  divinely  conferred  to  dictate  to  the  people  their  religious 
faith  and  their  morals ;  and  that  to  call  in  question  their  infalli- 
bility, was  a  crime  to  be  visited  with  the  severest  civil  penalties. 
The  civil  ruler  who  refused  to  exterminate  heretics  by  fire  and 
sword,  did  so  at  the  peril  of  his  crown,  if  not  of  his  life.  For 
crowns  and  kingdoms  were  believed  to  be  at  the  disposal  of  the 
Pope.  The  clergy,  sustained  by  that  most  horrible  institution, 
the  Inquisition  (which  even  in  the  middle  of  the  nineteenth  cen- 
tury disgraces  Rome),  exercised  a  severe  censorship  over  the  press  ; 
and  authors,  publishers,  printers,  booksellers  and  readers,  trembled 
at  their  dreadful  authority.  The  human  mind  with  all  its  noble 
powers  was  crushed  to  the  earth.  The  fate  of  John  Huss,  burned 
by  the  Council  of  Constance  in  shameful  disregard  of  the  Em- 
peror Frederick's  safe-conduct,  and  of  Galileo,  imprisoned  in  the 
inquisition  for  his  astronomical  discoveries,  were  a  fearful  warn- 
ing to  all  against  the  exercise  of  their  dearest  rights.  "  Let  us 
only  reflect,"  says  Villers,  "  on  the  immense  train  of  censures, 
prohibitions  and  inquisitors  employed  by  the  Romish  church  to 
keep  every  eye  closed,  at  a  period  in  which  every  new  truth  be- 


THE   MORAL   EFFECTS  OF  CHRISTIANITY.  599 

came  a  heresy,  that  is  to  say,  a  crime  deservino^  the  severest 
punishment,  and  against  which  all  the  rigor  of  the  secular  arm 
was  demanded  ;  and  we  shall  shudder  at  the  danger  incurred  by 
humanity  before  the  sixteenth  century."  These  doctrines,  to- 
gether with  that  of  the  divine  riglit  of  kings  to  tyrannize  over 
their  subjects,  rendered  the  existence  of  liberty  an  impossibility. 

The  first  effective  attack  upon  these  despotic  doctrines  was 
made  by  the  reformers.  Long,  indeed,  had  the  Waldenses  borne 
a  solemn  and  a  suffering  testimony  against  them.  Wickliffe, 
and  Huss,  and  Jerome  of  Prague  had  ventured  to  disjobey  popes 
and  kings;  but  an  almost  Egyptian  darkness  enshrouded  and 
oppressed  the  nations.  Only  the  faint  glimmerings  of  the  morn- 
ing star  of  the  day  of  freedom  had  been  seen.  But  Luther  had 
found  a  Bible  in  his  convent;  and  gradually  its  pure  light  had 
penetrated  the  thick  veil  of  superstition  which  darkened  his 
understanding.  Soon  his  stirring  voice  aroused  all  Europe 
from  profound  slumber,  and  made  the  pretended  successor  of 
Peter  tremble  on  his  throne.  "  In  Geneva,  Calvin  and  Beza, 
rejected  by  their  own  country,"  says  Villers,  "  established  a  new 
and  powerful  focus  of  religious  reform.  The  first  fruit  of  it  was 
the  liberty  of  Geneva."  To  this  place  fled  Scotch  and  English 
exiles  from  the  persecutions  of  "  the  bloody  Mary,"  to  become 
"intoxicated  with  republicanism  and  independence."  A  multi- 
tude of  men  of  talents,  says  the  writer  already  quoted,  have 
issued  from  Geneva,  who,  as  writers,  and  as  men  in  office,  have, 
in  the  most  decided  manner,  influenced  the  different  states  of 
Europe. 

If  you  would  get  a  clear  view  of  the  effects  of  Christianity 
upon  civil  and  religious  liberty,  begin  with  that  wonderful  man, 
John  Knox,  who  had  sat  at  the  feet  of  .Tohn  Calvin,  and  followed 
the  Presbyterian  church  of  Scotland  in  her  struggles  against 
tyranny,  through  the  reigns  of  the  Jameses  and  Charleses,  to  the 
ignominious  flight  of  James  II.  and  the  establishment  of  William 
and  Mary  on  the  English  throne.  The  final  crisis  which  turned 
the  scales  in  favor  of  freedom,  was  brought  on  by  the  famous 
Archbishop  Laud  and  Charles  II.,  in  the  mad  attempt  to  force 
upon  the  Scotch  a  form  of  government  and  a  liturgy  which  they 
abhorred.  "  To  this  step,"  says  Macaula}^,  "  taken  in  the  mere 
wantonness  of  tyranny,  and  in  criminal  ignorance  or  more 
criminal  contempt  of  public  feeling,  our  country  owes  her  free- 


600  THE    MORAL   EFFECTS   OF   CHRISTIANITY. 

dom.  The  first  performance  of  the  foreign  ceremonies  produced 
a  riot.     The  riot  rapidly  became  a  revolution." 

These  principles,  taught  in  the  Scriptures,  proclaimed  by  the 
Reformation,  nourished  and  matured  in  the  stormy  history  of 
Scotland  and  England,  were  transplanted  in  our  own  country ; 
and  here  have  they  borne  such  fruits  as  have  never  before  been 
enjoyed.  The  noble  men  and  women  who  laid  the  foundations 
of  our  free  government  were  Christians^  fled  from  persecution, 
that  in  the  wilds  of  the  American  wilderness  they  might  enjoy 
unmolested  the  rights  of  conscience.  For  the  great  principles  of 
civil  government  they  sought  in  the  Word  of  God.  True,  they 
were  not  altogether  free  from  prejudice,  and  therefore  did  not,  at 
first,  get  a  full  view  of  some  of  the  important  principles  there 
taught ;  but  further  investigations  dispelled  all  darkness,  and  re- 
sulted in  the  organization  of  the  noblest  government  the  world 
ever  saw.  "They  brought  with  them  into  the  new  world,''  says 
De  Tocqueville,  "  a  form  of  Christianity,  which  I  cannot  better 
describe,  than  by  styling  it  a  democratic  and  republican  religion. 
This  sect  contributed  powerfully  to  the  establishment  of  a  democ- 
racy and  a  republic ;  and  from  the  earliest  settlement  of  the 
emigrants,  politics  and  religion  contracted  an  alliance  which  has 
never  been  dissolved." 

Thus  do  we  find,  in  the  sacred  Scriptures  those  great  principles 
of  civil  and  religious  liberty  which  have  made  our  country  the 
freest  and  happiest  country  on  the  globe,  which  are  now  becom- 
ing diffused  through  all  nations,  and  by  which  all  tyranny  will 
be  ultimately  overthrown.  "Who  can  foretell,"  said  Villers, 
writing  when  our  republic  was  yet  in  its  infancy,  "  all  that  may 
result  in  the  two  worlds,  from  the  seductive  example  of  the  in- 
dependence conquered  by  the  Americans  ?  What  new  position 
would  the  world  assume,  if  this  example  were  followed?  and 
without  doubt  it  will  be  in  the  end.  Thus  two  Saxon  monks 
will  have  changed  the  face  of  the  globe."  The  Reformation,  he 
remarks,  introduced  a  new  order  of  things.  "  Powerful  republics 
were  founded.  Their  principles,  still  more  powerful  than  their 
arms,  were  introduced  into  all  nations.  Hence  arose  great  revo- 
lutions, and  those  which  may  yet  arise,  are  doubtless  incal- 
culable." 

Christianity  has  not  only  laid  the  broad  foundations  of  civil  and 
religious  liberty,  but  it  still  moulds  and  sustains  the  particular  laws 
enacted.     It  is  a  remarkable  fact,  that  the  Jews  were  the  first  na- 


THE   MORAL   EFFECTS  OF  CHRISTIANITY.  601 

tion  who  had  a  written  constitution,  and  a  written  code  of  laws. 
It  is  a  fact  even  more  remarkable,  tiiat  many  of  the  most  impor- 
tant laws  of  the  most  enlightened  nations  have  been  borrowed 
from  the  law  of  Moses.  And  yet  the  people  to  whom  this  excel- 
lent code  of  laws  was  given,  had  but  just  escaped  from  a  long-con- 
tinued and  degrading  bondage.  And  now,  as  in  past  ages,  the 
best  systems  of  laws  in  the  world  are  to  be  found  in  Christian 
countries ;  and  in  those  countries,  more  than  in  any  other,  the 
authority  of  law  is  supreme.  There  the  people  are  more  intelli- 
gent;  they  better  understand  their  own  and  each  other's  rights; 
and  to  support  the  laws,  is  not  only  their  true  interest,  but  their 
religious  duty.  "Despotism,"  as  De  Tocqueville  well  remarks, 
"may  govern  without/mVA,  but  liberty  cannot.  How  is  it  possi- 
ble that  society  should  escape  destruction,  if  the  moral  tie  be  not 
strengthened  in  proportion  as  the  political  tie  is  relaxed  ?  and 
what  can  be  done  with  a  people  which  is  its  own  master,  if  it  be 
not  submissive  to  Divinity  ?" 

We  are  authorized,  I  think,  in  view  of  this  discussion,  to  come 
to  the  following  conclusions : 

1st.  That  whatever  the  world  now  enjoys  of  civil  and  religio-us 
liberty,  it  owes  to  the  Bible  and  Christianity;  and  that  the  prog- 
ress of  the  principles  of  true  liberty  depends  upon  the  progress  of 
Christianity.  Both  the  past  history  and  the  present  state  of  the 
world  justify  this  conclusion.  The  permanency  of  our  free  insti- 
tutions, we  are  accustomed  to  say,  depends  upon  the  virtue  and 
the  intelligence  of  the  people  ;  and  true  virtue  and  general  intelli- 
gence can  be  maintained  only  by  Christianity. 

2d.  Christianity  is  not  more  decidedly  the  enemy  of  tyranny 
than  of  radicalism  and  anarchy.  It  claims  even  for  the  humblest 
their  inalienable  rights,  and  requires  the  most  honorable  to  obey 
the  powers  that  be.  It  throws  its  shield  over  the  domestic  circle, 
and  sanctifies  the  relations  of  husband  and  wife,  parent  and  child. 
It  condemns  equally  the  tyranny  of  the  husband  and  the  cruelty 
of  the  parent  on  the  one  hand,  and  the  unfaithfulness  of  the  wife 
and  the  disobedience  of  the  child  on  the  other.  It  utterly  repudi- 
ates the  levelling  and  demoralizing  principles  of  Socialism  in  all 
its  phases.     It  is  eminently  a  liberalizing',  yet  conservative  power. 

3d.  The  Bible  is  the  word  of  God.  How,  if  it  be  not,  shall  we 
account  for  the  fact,  that  though  written  in  ages  when  true  lib- 
erty was  unknown,  it  yet  inculcates  the  true  principles  of  liberty 
in  all  their  fulness? — and  is  now  the  great  patron  of  rational 


602  THE   MORAL    EFFECTS   OF   CHRISTIANITY. 

freedom  ? — that  though  written,  for  the  most  part,  when  the  word 
of  the  king  was  law,  and  poHtics  and  rehgion  were  everywhere 
united,  it  contains  the  wisest  laws,  and  draws  so  accurately  the 
limi(s  of  civil  and  ecclesiastical  jurisdiction?  In  a  word,  how 
shall  we  account  for  it,  that  Christianity  has  done,  and  is  doing 
for  liberty,  civil  and  rehgious,  just  what  it  has  done,  and  is  doing 
for  morals  and  for  science  ?  Can  we  persuade  ourselves,  that  the 
writers  of  the  books  which  constitute  the  Bible,  as  men  unin- 
spired, were  so  inconceivably  before  all  other  men  in  their  knowl- 
edge of  the  rights  of  men  ? 

4th.  Let  us  finally  consider,  with  great  brevity,  the  effects  of 
Christianity  wpon  the  happiness  of  men.  That  God  is  a  being 
of  infinite  benevolence,  I  need  not  attempt  to  prove ;  nor  need  I 
adduce  proof,  that  a  system  of  religion  from  him  would  promote 
the  highest  happiness  of  his  rational  creatures.  I  may  also  as- 
sume without  proof,  that  false  principles  can  no  more  promote 
permanently  ihe  happiness  of  men,  than  \\\\e,  morality.  If,  then, 
it  can  be  made  to  appear,  that  Christianity  does  secure  to  those 
who  embrace  it  the  most  exalted  happiness,  it  k'\\\  follow  as  a 
legitimate  and  certain  conclusion,  that  it  is  from  God.  That  it 
does  effect  this  object,  will  appear  from  the  following  considera- 
tions : — 

1st.  It  most  effectively  promotes  the  purest  morality  and  the 
most  exalted  virtue.  It  thus  delivers  those  who  embrace  it  from 
all  the  unhappiness  produced  by  immorality  in  its  various  forms. 
And  who  that  has  read  the  history  of  the  past,  or  that  is  ac- 
quainted with  the  present  state  of  the  world,  does  not  know  how 
large  a  proportion  of  all  the  wretchedness  of  men  is  traceable, 
mediately  or  immediately,  to  their  evil  passions  and  the  conduct 
to  which  those  passions  impel  them.  But  the  influence  of  religion 
is  not  merely  or  chiefly  negative.  The  fear  of  God  and  the  ex- 
pansive benevolence  with  which  it  fills  the  heart,  cause  us  to  de- 
light in  relieving  the  afflicted,  and  in  promoting  the  happiness  of 
all.  How  happy  will  be  the  condition  of  the  human  race,  when 
this  religion  shall  be  universally  diffused,  and  every  man  shall 
rejoice  to  do  good  to  his  fellow-men. 

2d.  It  promotes  general  intelligence  and  the  progress  of  learn- 
ing, and  thus  puts  men  in  possession  of  many  sources  of  enjoy- 
ment, and  causes  the  works  of  God  and  the  laws  of  nature  to 
minister  to  their  happiness.  Who  of  us  would  be  willing  to  ex- 
change the  pleasures  afforded  by  the  knowledge  he  possesses  of 


THE  MORAL  EFFECTS  OF  CHRISTIANITY.  608 

the  works  and  laws  of  nature,  for  all  the  treasures  of  the  Indies? 
And  who  can  number  the  enjoyments  afforded  us  by  the  achieve- 
ments of  science,  of  which  pagan  nations  are  deprived? 

3d.  It  promotes  civil  and  religious  liberty,  leads  to  the  enact- 
ment and  the  support  of  wise  and  wholesome  laws  ;  and  thus 
secures  to  men  the  enjoyment  of  their  dearest  rights,  and  gives 
them  in  their  lawful  pursuits  a  delightful  feeling  of  security. 
Every  man  sits  under  his  own  vine  and  fig-tree  unmolested, 
worshipping  God  according  to  the  dictates  of  his  own  conscience, 
and  rejoicing  in  the  fruits  of  honest  industry.  These  inestimable 
blessings  has  Christianity  conferred  upon  our  country  in  a  high 
degree ;  and  Christianity  only  can  preserve  them  as  a  rich  heri- 
tage to  our  children. 

4th.  It  imparts  to  those  who  embrace  it  the  most  exalted  hopes, 
and  consequently  the  most  exalted  joys.  The  human  mind  is  so 
constituted,  that  it  cannot  be  satisfied  with  present  enjoyments, 
however  great,  but  intensely  desires  future,  unending  bliss.  It 
is,  therefore,  constantly  looking,  forward,  and  fearing  or  hoping, 
as  its  prospects  seem  to  become  darker  or  brighter.  Many  of  its 
troubles  arise  from  anticipated  evils;  and  many  of  its  sweetest 
pleasures,  from  expected  good.  Christianity  meets  these  desires 
of  the  human  mind,  and  affords  them  the  highest  gratification. 
The  Christian  believes  himself  a  child  of  God,  and,  therefore,  an 
heir  of  glory.  He  has  the  promise  of  a  future  life — a  life  of  per- 
fect holiness,  of  ever-increasing  knowledge,  and  of  unmingled 
joy.  His  future  home  is  described,  in  the  beautifully  figurative 
language  of  Scripture,  as  a  city  whose  walls  are  of  the  most 
precious  stones,  whose  gates  are  pearls,  whose  streets  are  paved 
with  purest  gold,  whose  light  is  Jehovah  himself,  whose  inhabit- 
ants are  clothed  in  garments  of  spotless  white,  indicative  at  once 
of  their  purity  and  of  their  happiness,  whose  glory  and  bliss  are 
eternal.  Cheered  by  such  a  hope,  the  Christian  can  rejoice 
greatly  in  the  midst  of  afllictions  and  troubles,  saying  with  Paul 
the  apostle,  "I  reckon  that  the  sufferings  of  this  present  time  are 
not  worthy  to  be  compared  with  the  glory  that  shall  be  revealed 
in  us."  And  this  hope,  whilst  it  wonderfully  smooths  the  rugged 
path  of  life,  and  imparts  the  sweetest  pleasure,  powerfully  excites 
the  Christian  to  holy  living,  and  raises  him  above  the  tempta- 
tions by  which  he  is  constantly  assailed.  Exclude  from  the  mind 
the  light  of  the  Scriptures,  and  how  dark,  even  to  the  wisest,  is 
the  eternal  future.     Is  the  soul  immortal?     They  who  have 


604  THE   MORAL   EFFECTS   OF   CHRISTIANITY. 

relied  on  reason  and  the  light  of  nature,  give  contradictory 
answers.  If  immortal,  what  is  to  be  its  future  condition?  What 
has  it  to  hope  for?  Is  there  a  heaven  or  a  hell?  Can  God  con- 
sistently forgive  sins?  If  he  can,  on  what  conditions  will  he  do 
it?  The  only  answers  to  these  most  important  questions  are 
vague  conjectures  and  contradictory  assertions.  Thus  all  that  is 
dear  to  man  is  left  in  perfect  uncertainty,  and  the  exalted 
hopes  of  the  future  give  place  to  the  grovelling  sentiment — "Let 
us  eat  and  drink,  for  to-morrow  we  die." 

These  are  some,  not  all,  the  pleasures  flowing  from  Christi- 
anity. But  in  this  life  we  see  its  power  but  imperfectly  developed, 
and  consequently  the  happiness  it  impartSjbut  imperfectly  enjoyed. 
Men  are  here  in  the  infancy  of  their  being ;  and  they  learn  im- 
perfectly the  elements  of  the  sublime  science  taught  in  the  Scrip- 
tures. An  eternity  of  perfect  holiness,  of  rapidly  increasing 
wisdom,  and  of  more  than  angelic  happiness  alone  can  unfold 
its  "  unsearchable  riches."  The  peaceful  and  triumphant  death 
of  the  righteous  gives  the  clearest  view  afforded  in  the  present 
state,  of  the  glorious  excellency  of  the  religion  of  Christ  Jesus. 

To  what  conclusions  may  we  legitimately  come  from  the  very 
imperfect  view  of  this  whole  subject  as  now  presented  ? 

1.  That  the  Bible  is  the  word  of  God.  Is  not  this  conclusion 
both  legitimate  and  inevitable?  Do  you  say,  no?  Then  take  a 
bold  stand,  and  maintain  the  following  positions : — 

1st.  That  a  succession  of  vile  impostors  and  deceivers  (for  such 
were  the  writers  of  the  books  which  compose  the  Bible,  if  they 
were  not  inspired)  through  a  period  of  fifteen  hundred  years, 
when  universal  corruption  prevailed  amongst  all  nations,  became 
the  authors  of  the  purest  code  of  morals  the  world  ever  saw — a 
code  condemning  most  severely  vice  in  all  its  forms  and  shades, 
commending  most  strongly  every  virtue  that  can  adorn  the 
human  character,  and  enforcing  its  requirements  by  every  pos- 
sible motive,  approaching  the  mind  with  its  persuasions  to  virtue 
by  every  avenue ! — a  code  of  morals  which  has  been  cherished 
by  the  good  and  hated  by  the  evil  in  every  age,  and  which, 
wherever  it  has  been  received  as  divine,  has  dried  up  the  foun- 
tains of  pollution  and  misery,  and  opened  those  of  purity  and 
joy  1 — a  code  which  has  proved  alike  an  inestimable  blessing  to 
individuals,  to  families,  to  communities,  and  to  nations  !  Come 
forward  and  boldly  maintain,  that  false  pri-^jiples  produce  purer 


THE   MORAL   EFFECTS   OF   CHRISTIANITY.  605 

morals  and  more  elevated  virtue,  than  th^  truth,  and,  therefore, 
that  falsehood  is  a  greater  blessing  to  men  than  the  truth  ! 

2d.  Then  proclaim  to  the  world,  that  a  succession  of  ignorant, 
miprincijjled  men,  in  the  darkest  ages  of  the  world's  history, 
wrote  a  book  embracing  in  its  vast  range  not  only  theology,  but 
several  of  the  most  important  branches  of  science,  as  history, 
chronology,  geography,  law,  mental  and  moral  science,  &c. — 
which  book  has  successfully  asserted  its  claims,  as  a  divine  reve- 
lation, over  the  most  enlightened  nations,  and  over  many  of  the 
most  gigantic  intellects  richly  stored  with  human  learning ;  nay, 
which  gave  to  the  greatest  philosophers  the  true  clue  to  their  dis- 
coveries, and  is  the  most  successful  patron  of  learning  in  all  its 
branches !  Proclaim  it,  that  ignorance  is  wiser  than  wisdom — 
that  darkness  shines  more  brightly  than  the  light ! 

3d.  Go  further,  and  affirm,  that  those  degraded,  ignorant  men 
did  better  understand,  and  more  clearly  teach  the  great  principles 
of  liberty,  civil  and  religious,  did  more  fully  define  the  duties 
and  guard  the  rights  of  individuals  in  all  the  relations  of  life, 
than  any  other  men  who  have  lived ;  and  through  their  writings 
have  broken,  and  are  breaking  the  yoke  of  tyranny,  and  pro- 
claiming liberty  to  the  nations  ! 

4th.  Tell  it  to  all,  that  the  greatest  imposture  the  world  ever 
saw,  has  been  the  greatest  blessing  the  world  ever  enjoyed — has 
done  more  than  all  other  causes  to  dry  up  the  fountains  of  human 
crime  and  wretchedness,  to  make  every  man  a  blessing  to  his 
fellow-men  and  earth  a  blooming  paradise ;  to  meet  and  satisfy 
the  noblest  aspirations  of  the  human  mind,  inspire  it  with  glorious 
hopes,  smooth  the  rough  pathway  of  life,  and  make  the  dying 
hour  an  hour  of  peace,  and  triumph,  and  joy  ! 

He  who  is  not  prepared  to  assert  absurdities  so  glaring,  must 
acknowledge  the  conclusiveness  of  the  argument,  and  admit,  that 
'•all  Scripture  is  given  by  inspiration  of  God." 

2.  He  who  would  promote  most  effectually  the  highest  interests 
of  men,  must  put  into  their  hands  the  inspired  volume,  and  bring 
them,  as  far  as  possible,  under  its  hallowed  influence.  All 
schemes  of  reform  which  rest  not  upon  its  teaching,  will,  as  they 
have  ever  done,  not  only  fail,  but  will  aggravate  the  evils  they  are 
designed  to  remove.  The  Bible  alone  strikes  at  the  prolific  cause 
of  human  misery,  which  is ^in,  and  points  out  clearly  the  path 
of  real  prosperity  and  happiness. 

3.  Young    men  especially,  should  regard    the   claims   of  the 


606  THE  MORAL  EFFECTS  OF  CHRISTIANITY. 

Bible,  and  acquaint  themselves  with  its  doctrines.  Its  history, 
its  science,  its  literature,  its  morals,  its  grace,  its  glorious  hopes, 
all  claim  their  attention.  "Wherewithal,"  asked  David,  the 
king  of  Israel,  "  shall  a  young  man  cleanse  his  way  ?"  He 
answers — "  By  taking  heed  thereto  according  to  thy  word." 
Multitudes  of  young  men  of  fairest  promise  have  fallen  under 
the  temptations  that  have  assailed  them ;  but  not  one  ever  fell, 
till  he  forsook  that  Book — "  the  light  to  the  feet  and  the  lamp  to 
the  path." 

But  we  are  all  immortal.  The  interests  of  this  life  are  the 
merest  trifles,  compared  with  the  interests  of  the  eternal  future. 
We  are  all  sinners  ;  and  in  the  Bible  only  we  find  a  Saviour  and 
a  heaven.  He  died  for  us,  and  rose  again.  He  is  able  to  save  to 
the  uttermost.     Repent,  believe,  and  live  forever. 


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